Here's a question for you this morning: When you look in the mirror, what do you see? That is a loaded question. Are you happy with what you see? Are you comfortable? Do you have regrets? Do you not like what you see?
John Legend brought out a music video called "You and I" which got almost 12 million views. The whole premise of that video is telling the girl that he loves that he doesn't really care that she spends so much of time at the mirror trying to find the right hairstyle and dress. He just cares for her. Seeing the number of views that this video got, a documentary was brought out inviting people to answer the question: What do you see when you look in the mirror?
David Icke, a former British footballer and now a journalist and writer says, "When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Do you see the real you, or what you have been conditioned to believe is you? The two are so, so different. One is an infinite consciousness capable of being and creating whatever it chooses, the other is an illusion imprisoned by its own perceived and programmed limitations." One has infinite possibilities as you realize that you are created, that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, as the Bible puts it; the other, by the limitations that you have allowed yourself to be imprisoned in.
This past week, I was working with young professionals and watching a video of the complexities of the human body. All of us agree that we don't understand DNA and stuff like that. It's very complex! But, part of the video was looking at a little girl who cut her finger and went looking for a Band-Aid to put on top of it so that it would stop bleeding. The complexity of what blood clotting is all about, which we take for granted, all the mechanisms that go on to stem the flow of blood, is amazing. We are wonderfully and fearfully made.
I was reading this book by Dr. Dale Galloway, "The Awesome Power of Your Attitude," and he says, "There are five things that can help you decide to have a better image about yourself; 5 things that are essentially yours.
1. You always have the right to choose. I would say – to choose to do the right thing, always. However difficult, however unpopular it may be, to be able to choose and say, "This is the right thing, and this is what I want to do." that aids towards a healthy self-image, that you can look at what you have done and know that you have stood by what is right.
Wayne Alderson, known for his great 'Value of a Person' movement, had an interesting encounter when, as he worked with his company Pittron Steel and developed a wonderful working relationship between the union and the company, that the company began to change, morale increased, production increased to such a point that it became an attractive company for a buy-out. Bucyrus-Erie Corporation acquired Pittron Steel. Alderson was called in, because he was the manager of the acquired company, to meet his new boss from the holding company and was told that his concept of labor relations was incompatible with Bucyrus-Erie's policy. He had to abandon his way of respecting and treating labor as valued persons or leave the company. The choice was his. He said, "No, sir. I will not give it up." He was fired. But he never looked back at that and said, "It was a wrong decision." It only added to the positive strength and self-image that he had about himself.
2. Change. To be able to be the change agent, to be the change that you want to see happen around you, to do something about it. We always talk about the time when voting comes that decisions are made by the people who show up. If you don't show up, then you shouldn't criticize what is going on; you don't have that right. There's a Johnny Hart cartoon that went something like this:
Scene 1: Oftentimes I wonder what this world is all about.
Scene 2: It can't be just a place for coming in and going out.
Scene 3: It surely can't be just a place for terrorists and crooks.
Scene 4: and dirty rotten scoundrels who sell pornography books?
Scene 5: it wasn't just a place for wallowing in sickness, death and sin….
Scene 6: or people who give drugs to kids or beat up their kin…
Scene 7: Our world was once a perfect place, a giver of love, not war.
Scene 8: We still have the power, through grace, to make it like before.
We need to be able to do something, to be able to change the things that we have the opportunities to change.
3. Commit. Commit ourselves to something, to a cause, to an action, to a belief, to a value. When you commit to something, then there's a positive attitude that invades your whole self. When we meet with foreigners who come in to India, they are very perplexed by the way we answer questions. The famous Indian head nod comes into play. We were doing a little promo for a Christmas program and our young people put together a video with all the excuses that people could come up with not to get involved. One of them was the Indian head nod that is so non-committal; neither yes nor no. Yet, if you want to have a positive image about yourself, you've got to commit yourself to a worthy cause.
4. To be able to connect: You need to be able to connect to the source of power. So often you've heard me saying that it is God who gives wisdom, God who gives strength, God who gives you the ability to do things far beyond yourself. Just this past week, I was looking for an accompanying track that I could buy that would help in some of the music that we were doing. I tried 30 or 40 sites and was unsuccessful. Finally I realized that I hadn't tuned into the source of power; I hadn't asked God for help. So I asked Jesus to help me find that site. Within 30 seconds, I came upon a site on Soundcloud. The guy had just put up the tracks thinking that it might help somebody. I connected to the power source and it worked. So often we connect to only the limited power sources that we have, which is our frame of reference. It's like connecting to the generator when the power goes out. Only a few things can work. Yet, when the power comes on, everything works.
Are you connected to God, who is the powerful source that is always available to you?
5. Are you a channel for God to work through to touch people all around you? Jon Cohen wrote such a beautiful song many years ago:
Make me a channel of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me bring Your love,
Where there is injury, Your pardon Lord,
And where there's doubt, true faith in You.
Make me a channel of your peace,
Where there's despair in life let me bring hope,
Where there is darkness – only light,
And where there's sadness, ever joy.
I wonder today if we can wear different lenses in our worlds, in our spaces, in our offices, in our areas of work, whether we can just look at ourselves and say, "How do I view myself? Do I have a good positive feel and sense about myself? Do I need to bring about some change in myself which is beyond what other people expect of me?"
Maybe these 5 C's are something for you to think about.
· Choose
· Change
· Commit
· Connect
· Channel
This final one that comes from our Scriptures. The Bible says, "Remember, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I can do all things, another C. My prayer is that you would take a good, hard look at yourself and then make course corrections if you need it.
Can I pray with you? Almighty God, bless each of us, even as we think about this. As we look in the mirror and see ourselves, remind us that You made us and You were so happy and You said that we were very good. We are fearfully and wonderfully made and we thank You for that. Give us back a positive self-image secure in You, grounded in You. Help us, Lord, to walk through being channels of peace and joy to people all around us, that we would be positive influences in the corporate spaces, in the work places that we are in. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
• David Icke, "When you look in the mirror..." http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/davidicke543061.html
• Dale E Galloway, "The Awesome Power of Your Attitude." http://www.amazon.com/Awesome-Power-of-Your-Attitude/dp/1885605013
• Wayne Alderson of Piton Steel bought over by Bucyrus-Erie Corporation, pg 155-156 "The Awesome Power of Attitude."
• Quoted from Johnny Hart's cartoon
• "What do you see when you look in the Mirror." http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/374879/what-do-you-see-when-you-look-in-the-mirror/
• Jon Cohen, "Make me a channel of your peace." http://www.metrolyrics.com/make-me-a-channel-of-your-peace-lyrics-sinead-oconnor.html
• Bible references: Psalm 139:14; Phil. 4:13
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