[ startin' with the man beyond the mirror. ]

   Bike rides are incredible times for good one-on-one conversations with God. Truly. [Especially along the Danish countryside around sundown in the summertime with a cool breeze.]

   With too much on my mind, I decided I needed to get out and think and get some things broken back down to the basics. The basics simply being God is what matters most and He's on my side.

   Riding through the countryside, firey sunset on the right, rows upon rows of wheat fields on either side -- things in my mind quickly lost their importance when brought in light of His creation.

   I mean, He really outdid Himself.

   So I'm riding along the winding road, talking to myself and to Him, and yes, looking like a complete fool, but I couldn't have cared less. At one point when I was talking about wanting to be in Heaven already so I dance pain-free and fly around in outer space and sit down and talk with Him, face to face, and ask questions and hear His heart and hear His story of me and His thoughts of me and what I did -- it hit me.
  
   I began asking Him that I would see myself through His eyes.

   Why?

   Because the verse came to mind in 1 Corinthians 13.12: "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."

   I've heard that verse so many times, and yeah, blah blah we don't see things clearly now, and when He returns everything will make more sense and be clearer. But it really made sense and took on a different light in the context I was thinking along the lines of.

   No matter who we ask or how many we ask or how many mirrors we gaze into, we will never see ourselves clearly. There will never be a moment when you  gaze into the mirror and get some epiphany on your own about what you really look like or who you are. You'll never get an honestly unbiased opinion from someone about yourself or who you are.

   You'll never understand who you are through a human's perspective.

   Only from the One who created and shaped you Himself will you ever find answers and clarity.

   I mean, out of anyone, He should know, right? Would make sense..

   We're all born with this pure, untainted picture of ourselves and who we were born to be. And as we grow up and change and have different people speak things over us, things change. Our images of ourselves change which then changes us.

   So gaze away my friends, but you're looking in the wrong place.

   The only place you will get a clear picture of your true identity is from the One who knows you inside and out and has been there your entire life, even before it began.

   And shoot, if you don't have a clear image, then who are you? Who's life are you trying to live instead of the one you were made to?

   It's time to sort through the things we thought we knew about ourselves and bring it back to the basics of what we know He created us to be. Sons and daughters, co-heirs with Christ. Filled with His authority. Unbeatable.

   Created for greatness.

   So.. lay down the mirror. What you seek is not there. It will never satisfy your questions..

Gaze at the One who holds all the answers.