Life is a mirror

FOOTSTEPS AND FINGERPRINTS
by: NANCY RUSSELL CATAN

Jun and I extend our warmest wishes to all of you for a Joyous, Blessed, and Prosperous New Year 2010! The Wicked Queen in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty looked into her mirror and asked: “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, Who is fairest of us all?” Sometimes I wish that I had a mirror like that, that would answer my wonderings: “What does 2010 have in store for me and my family?” And then I find myself answering my own question with my favorite guiding verse in scripture:

Romans 8:28. In everything (whether I like it or not) God works for good (either my good, or He uses me as a channel for good to others, whatever happens I know and trust that there will be good in that happening somehow, somewhere, sometime) for those who love Him and who respond to His call and His purpose.

This is the time of year for looking back and remembering the year just past, lessons learned and insights gained. This is also a time for looking ahead to the year coming, a time of anticipation of joys and sorrows, of challenges and trials. Some of these we have control over; however many times we make our own problems, and we make the problems of others our own. And there are the “unknowns” caused by factors outside our area of influence, or by force majeure like the Typhoons Ondoy and Peping last year.

I look at the coming year as a time for healing hurts and disagreements, a time to share our caring and concern, a time to turn hatred and look at the New Year as a time for understanding our neighbors, our countrymen, our family members and ourselves by really listening to what they are saying (including their body language) with my heart. This is a time to get in touch with the child in us, so that we can look at life through fresh eyes untainted by what others think and say and discover the everyday miracles in our lives.

Yes, life is a mirror. Poetess M.A. DeVere explains it well in her short poem “Life’s Mirror”: There are loyal hearts, there are spirits brave/ There are souls that are pure and true/ Then give to the world the best you have,/ And the best will come back to you./ Give love, and love to your life will flow/ A strength in your utmost need;/ Have faith, and a score of hearts will show/ Their faith in your word and deed.

Give truth, and your gift will be paid in kind, / And honor will honor meet, / And a smile that is sweet will surely find/ A smile that is just as sweet. / Give sorrow and pity to those who mourn;/ You will gather in flowers again/ The scattered seeds of your thought outborne,/ Though the sowing seemed but vain./ For life is the mirror of king and slave—/ ‘Tis just what we are and do;/ Then give to the world the best you have,/ And the best will come back to you.

The mirror of my life sees me as I really am, not as how I would like to be, or as how others see me or want me to be.

Like the mirror in Sleeping Beauty, the mirror that told the truth even though it made the Wicked Queen have a temperamental anger tantrum, the mirror of my life will reflect only the truth about me. Sometimes I like what I see, sometimes I don’t.

The New Year challenges me to become a better person.

The mirror of life tells me that the New Year is a time for learning new truths, discovering creative and better ways of doing things, to look into ways to blend the old traditions with the modern pace of life. It is a time for sharing – resources, time, skills and talents with those who need most my help, with those who have less in life than I have.

Yes, the New Year is a time to look forward, a time of anticipation. But most of all it is a much needed reminder for me to take time out to really look deep into the mirror of my life, to reflect on the treasures of happy moments, to gather inspiration from the people who have left their footsteps and fingerprints along my life path, and to thank God for His blessings that make me who I am.

Most of all, I like to think that the new year beckons me to step out along a fresh path, one that unfolds before me a wide horizon, complete with exciting mountains to climb, valleys to rest in, with storms and rainbows along the way. And as I travel along my life path, I resolve to make the most of my journey, step by step, today and every day.

At the end of the year I hope to look into the mirror of my life and see joyful faces, myriad miracles, and a warm smile on my face reflecting back a spirit of gratefulness and contentment for the year just past.