The Gospel as an Honest Mirror
Building Reflections
Mirrors (and the gospel) Can Tell Us More About Ourselves Than Simply How Together We Look
The gospel can be seen as a mirror. Jesus' teachings ask us to become more like Him and grow closer to God. He tells us and shows us through his example how we should act towards others, how we should see ourselves, how to worship the Father, how to cultivate humility, and so much more.
Kimberly Matheson (known as Kimberly Berkey at the time she wrote this book) wrote about mirrors in a way I had not thought of before. Mirrors do not just reflect our faces back at us; in countless other ways, they help us see things that would otherwise be invisible.
The most common everyday use is they help us with our personal grooming.
They can also extend our range of possible sight—think of the side mirrors on your car or the round ones in some garages to help you see approaching traffic.
They can help us see impossibly distant objects. Telescopes' mirrors focus light or other electromagnetic signals to a central point, helping us see amazingly large distances away.
They help us be more precious in ways we could not be alone. Think about mirrors that aim lasers for medical purposes like eye surgery or to help cut and mark precise patterns.
Funhouse mirrors can even change how we see anything and distort it in funny ways.
I'm sure there are many, many more examples. Similarly, by redirecting what we focus on, the gospel helps us see things we would otherwise miss. We can use mirrors to gaze at how pretty or handsome we are. Likewise, the gospel can help us feel more righteous or worthy than others. Instead, we should use the mirror of the gospel to help us see ourselves as we are, warts and all, so we can repent and find improvement. The mirror of the gospel can
Help us see that we are not as righteous or consecrated as we may think we are. We all need to repent, and we all need to see that we are stuck in pride more often than we know.
It will help us realize we are not as generous to the poor or those who have less than us than we think.
We are not as forgiving of others as we should be and hold on to too much anger and bitterness in our lives.
We have our own secret sins that we hide deep so no one sees. We find comfort wrongly in believing that since no one knows and we are not hurting anyone, we are okay.
"The gospel is precisely such a mirror, a tool designed for self-reflection and repentance. If we weaponize those mirrors against others rather than turning them thoughtfully on ourselves, we can be sure that we have fallen into the same distortions that characterize the Nephites in the book of Helaman." (Kimberly M. Berkey, Helaman: A Brief Theological Introduction, Provo, Utah: Neal A. Maxwell Institute, Brigham Young University, 2020)
As children learn to speak, they may babble as the desire hits them, even at seemingly the wrong times. As children grow, they speak out as thoughts hit them. We should think of our prayers that way. When the thought hits you, pray about it. You don't need formality to speak with God.