The Beauty of Broken Mirrors

In the hectic bustle and scurry that can be our lives sometimes, we have the tendency to overlook certain luxuries. Many of us, I would venture to guess, likely take for granted the common mirror. Yes, the mirror is a luxury in that we do not need to ‘get by' in this world or this life, though it helps tremendously. Imagine how much more difficult driving would be without that polished reflective glass there to be of assistance. But I digress. Most of us use or rely on mirrors within our homes, whether they be decorative or for personal grooming, dressing, etc. They are a common luxury; this much we know.

Some months ago, a loved one (who most unfortunately has ‘fallen away') and I were discussing our mutual enjoyment of the contemporary rock and Christian music group known as ‘NeedToBreathe'. One of their newer songs, entitled, "Banks," has a beautiful lyrical verse within it. Truth be told, this verse alone inspired the composition of this article with a bit of prayerful reflection within the song itself. The verse intones, "If you ever feel like you're not enough, I'm going to break all your mirrors."

"Now why," I thought, "would someone break another's mirrors because they felt like they weren't good enough?" I stayed with this thought for a while, not primarily because of the question it evoked within me, but because of how the verse resonated with my own soul and interior disposition. I often feel like I am not good enough – whether that be good enough for my colleagues, my principal, my doctoral studies professors, my friends, my parents, my girlfriends over the years, and most importantly of all, for God Himself. While I would like to believe I am not alone in feeling this way, I wonder if perhaps I do not, for some reason, feel this inadequacy more often than others. Alas, that is something I will take with me into further spiritual direction.

During the recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy one afternoon, accompanied in prayer by my seventh-grade learners, the answer to the question finally ‘dawned' on me. Why would someone break another's mirrors because they felt like they weren't enough?

Because mirrors show us only our external reflections. Designed to provide a clear and full reflection, they can, at best, only ever accomplish half their intended purpose. Mirrors cannot show us the most authentic, real, affirming, and beautiful reflection of all, namely, the ways in which we reflect the imago Dei in which we have been created (cf. Genesis 1:27)!

Thus, if we stare into our external reflections alone and for long enough, we will begin to believe what we see in those reflections. We might, for example, see one whose hair has begun to grey; one whose face is distorted by stress wrinkles; whose torso bears the marks of surgeries, injuries, or even ‘stretch-marks' from weight gain. If we focus too intently on our external appearances, we run two risks of excess: (1) either we begin to see ourselves as inadequate and grotesque or (2) we begin to see ourselves in a rather narcissistically positive lens, forgetting that though we are created in the image and likeness of God, we are still sinners "in need of God's mercy in which we ought never lose hope" (Rule of Saint Benedict, 4.74).

I might content that insofar as mirrors only show us ‘the lesser half' of our true selves (the external), they are all somewhat ‘broken.' Yet, here is the beauty of it all (and the simultaneous beauty of these ‘broken' mirrors):

We were and are, moment-by-moment, loved into existence by the One who, at our creation, looked at us and proclaimed what we will hope to hear again as we enter into ‘eternal Easter', namely, these phrases: "Very good!" (Genesis 1:31) and "It is I who have fearfully and wonderfully made you!" (Psalms 139:14).

Therefore, next time you gaze into your reflection in a mirror, I encourage you to remember these three things: (1) You are using a ‘broken' instrument to provide you with a less than full reflection of who you truly are, (2) Who you truly are is God's child and as such you are created in His own dazzling image and likeness, and (3) As a result of that creation alone, you are more than enough!

The Beauty of Broken Mirrors

-Anthony Maranise, Obl.S.B.