[184]. POEM MESSAGE – MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL, WHO’S THE WORST OF US ALL?
This is an unusual poem I think, the name taken from the saying, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of us all?”
Here we have a reflective poem and a challenging one in our personal lives. There is often so much failure and sin and letting the Lord down. It is like the mirror reflects to us our blemishes and sin and disgrace, but to leave it there is not the way the Lord wants.
In the last stanza, the true image comes through. Imagine an image of the Lord looking at you, answering you in the mirror, and cancelling all that was against you. Jesus has forgiven all the past and it is forgotten, something we often can’t do for ourselves, but keep dredging up the failures and letting the devil accuse us all the time over past sins. He is the accuser of the brethren. Revelation 12:10.
{{Matthew 9:2 and behold, they were bringing to Him a paralytic lying on a bed and Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Take courage, My son. YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN,”}}. When Jesus forgives sin, He forgets sin.
We need to examine ourselves but not for the purpose of continual accusation and self-defacing. Look into the mirror AND SEE THE LORD! {{2 Corinthians 3:18 “but we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”}}
James uses the mirror image for a man who is careless and misdirected – {{James 1:23 “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror,”}}
I suggest you read this poem in a meditative way.
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MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL, WHO’S THE WORST OF US ALL?
Life can be a reflective mirror decades deep;
A mirror of embarrassment that shows the truth in light.
We might take a longer look, or just one small peep,
But it’s often discontentment that breaks upon our sight.
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Wasted years we see, as failures, blurs and scratches.
Regret may often burst out starkly from the mirror’s face.
These faults have left their ugly marks as gross patches.
There are turns and falls on life’s forks that show up our disgrace.
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The mirror reflects a darkened view that speaks shame;
Those times we fell into sin, that now have left us grieving.
Our behaviour betrayed His most glorious Name.
Even now, though forgiven, it’s shame we are receiving.
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But now, one appealing sight the mirror displays -
Happy, joyous things jolted from the memory faded.
There were times God used us for His glory and praise,
When we walked with God in His will, and others were aided.
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Many other reviews swept across that mirror,
That on reflection, have left us with certain mixed feelings.
I suppose in old age, the past becomes clearer,
And we assess a whole range of outcomes through our dealings.
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However, one last reflection the mirror showed:
It was the glorious Lord who cancelled out all the past;
Who smiled back at me and said, “I’ve taken your load.”
I realised forgiveness, and forgetfulness, that will last.
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R E Ferguson 11 January 2022 Metre = 12-14-12-14 A-B-A-B