A story is floating around in my head, so I begin scrolling through the many pictures I’ve taken in the past week and come across a picture of a woman’s reflection in a dirty window. I stop scrolling and stare at it. My first thought “My God, that woman looks sad.” I then realize it is a picture of myself, one I had randomly snapped as I walked by a window. No reason really, I just snapped the picture and kept on moving.
As I sit here looking at this picture, the image clear, yet hazy and a bit smudged from the dirty surface of the window, I begin to see so much more within it than a simple reflection. I became a bit uncomfortable with this view of myself; a random picture taken that captured too much.
Hazy and a bit blurry. Kind of like the road we all travel on this journey called life. A bit hazy up ahead, not quite clear of what’s in store, but you keep going anyway. I believe that most would call that faith. Not knowing how the road ends or the story unfolds, just moving along the best that you can and working hard to keep your faith intact.
Another thought that struck me was that the woman in the reflection, she doesn’t look happy. In fact, she looks sad. A sadness buried within, but if one were to really look, what else might they see?
I sent the picture to a friend and asked “If you didn’t know the person in this picture, what would be your first thoughts when viewing it?”
Her response; “Wow, a thousand words. Nostalgia and part sadness. Definitely a story there. Loss and strength, blessings and peace in the face of adversity.”
Those are things I did not nor would have thought of while viewing this picture. It’s interesting how others see things that you may not. It's humbling when others see you and see something other than what you see yourself. The you that you let the world see and the one that you accidentally catch in a reflection.
Maybe it is a good idea to occasionally look at yourself from a different perspective. Maybe looking at your own reflection is a gentle reminder that you are who you are meant to be. A big ball of mess. A conglomeration of all that you have been through and all that is to come. Triumphs, failures, heartache, loss, joys, sadness, love, peace, prayers, faith and everything in between.