It’s the day after Thanksgiving. The day after spending some much needed time with family and those I love, a day where I continue reflecting on the things I am thankful for and a day where I avoid the insanity of the Black Friday crowds with intentionality.

Having the day to myself, I am quickly reminded of all the things I need to do around the house, so with a pencil and paper I begin to write out that list. After a couple of hours of working my way through the list I begin to lose focus wanting a change of pace, so I grab the remote and start navigating the online cable guide stumbling upon The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Being a big fan of the Chronicles of Narnia, it really didn’t take much convincing myself to put aside my to-do list and watch the movie. I know it’s a lame excuse, but it’s the one I’m going with.

Anyways…getting lost in the adventure of movie gets interrupted when in one scene Lucy looks into a mirror and her reflection becomes the image of her older sister Susan. In the midst of life’s circumstance, it’s the mirror where Lucy has a confrontation with herself. How many times do we look into life’s mirror looking for a new reflection, an image of who we are not?

Choosing to step into the false reality of the reflection in the mirror, Lucy becomes the image of her older sister Susan and then enters a world where Lucy never existed and they never found Narnia.

Breaking through the reality of Lucy’s choice, Aslan appears in the mirror to confront her with her decision. Here is their conversation:

Aslan: “Lucy…what have you done, child?”

Lucy: “I don’t know. That was awful.”

Aslan: “But you chose it, Lucy.”

Lucy: “I didn’t mean to choose all of that, I just wanted to be beautiful like Susan. That’s all.”

Aslan: “You wished yourself away. And with it, much more. Your brothers and sister wouldn’t know Narnia without you, Lucy. You discovered it first, remember?”

Lucy: “I’m so sorry.”

Aslan: “You doubt your value. Don’t run from who you are.”

We look to the mirror to tell us who we are and the sad reality is that the message we hear is always that somehow we are less what we should be. And we believe it! We believe the lies and forget that there is a God who created us with purpose, that there is a God who has loved us since the beginning of time and fully accepts us just as we are.

You are God’s beautiful creation; He formed you, He wrote your story, He knew exactly when you’d be born and He gave you a purpose to be fulfilled before the foundation of the earth. So before Genesis 1:1 you were created. The word says you were in God. God planned you and He breathed his plan into you as He was shaping you.

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day. -Psalm 139:13-16 (NIV)

We spend our lives in a desperate pursuit looking for the answer to the question of “Who am I?” We look for this validation in everything and every place except in the One who created us and defined us. Why?

I leave you with this thought…”Haven’t you spent far too long chasing what has been taken from you instead of what has been given to you?” You know, when you think of it, isn’t this central to why we might struggle with who we are?

Stop living who you’re not and start living who you are!

May you begin to see yourself through God’s eyes and start living life courageously from your heart!