A Living Reflection

What happens when you overlook the hippos in the middle of this picture? The picture looks inviting, and the water looks calm.

But I can assure you that if you went for a swim, "calm" would be one of the last words used to describe the resulting situation. This picture shows how a reflection can hide big issues, but it also shows that a reflection can be beautiful. What kind of reflection will your life be?

Are you hiding yourself in a reflection of something else? Or are you living in a way that is fierce, strong, alive, bold, and beautiful?

Firstly, it is important to see how we can (but shouldn't) hide ourselves in the reflections of other things. The easiest way to live is to simply go mostly under the water, letting only the inviting pieces of our lives be shown to others. If we do this, we're living just like the hippos! Well, sort of.

If we simply hide under the water, we're by no means living beautifully and boldly. But, nobody likes to point out their flaws. Nobody likes to be vulnerable. We're sort of like the water in this picture. While parts of our lives may be calm and beautiful like some of the water, ALL of our lives have splotches just like this water does. Those splotches are sins (or hippos...), and they grow stronger, bigger, more fierce and more ugly as our lives progress. One sin leads us to another, and pretty soon the hippos will try devour us completely.

But thankfully, we don't have to let the hippos win. We're safe on shore in a secure home. That home is in Jesus. Can we build shoreline on our own? No. But Jesus has already build us a shoreline. He wants our lives to reflect the beauty of his creation, the beauty of his love, and the beauty of the home he has created for us. Jesus' love covers up the sins in our lives, much like the reflection of the beautiful shoreline in this image covers the hippos.

Now, we can make Jesus a "blanket statement," by still living in the water, living in continual sin, and just saying the beautiful reflection covers our ugliness, or we can make Jesus our home by deciding to get out of the water and go live on the shoreline with him. I urge you to get to shore.

We all need to step out of the water where sins and issues are hiding, and we need to direct our lives towards Jesus, who is our home and our forgiveness. When we strive to reflect Jesus, he'll make the reflection of himself in our lives as clear and beautiful as the picture of the shore. It won't be blurry like it is in the water. It won't be stained of full of danger like it is in the water. We can be a secondary reflection, unlike any reflection ever pictured.

As followers of Christ, we need to take the fierceness and the strength of the hippos and bring it to shore as we combat sin. When our lives reflect Christ, they are full of clear direction and clear conscience. Let's jump out. Don't hide in an unclear reflection. Find a way to clearly reflect the love of Christ in something you do on a daily basis. Find beauty in the small things in life, because the details are what make up the big picture. Don't just overlook the hippos. Get away from the hippos. Let your life be a living reflection of who you serve. Let your life be a living reflection of Jesus Christ, the Creator and King.