Kissing Mirrors?

Cute story: A private parochial school had a problem with a group of 12-year old girls going into the restroom, putting on heavy lipstick, and pressing their lips to the mirror. It left dozens of tiny lip prints. Every night the maintenance man would remove them, and the next day the girls would put them back. Finally, the principal, Sister Mary, called the girls that were under suspicion together to meet the maintenance man. She explained the lip prints were a major problem for the custodian. She got him to demonstrate how hard they were to scrub off. He got a long-handled squeegee, dipped it into the toilet and cleaned off the little kisses. Since then there have been no more lip prints on the mirror. (As read in the Fort Bend Herald 11-13-16)

Pride and mirrors seem to go together. Years ago, I was pastor of a church in Northern Wisconsin, on the forested shores of Lake Superior. The area was populated with amazing animals like badgers, beavers, otters, ducks, deer, black bear, and moose. The church had a long driveway into our parking lot. On many Winter mornings, there was a beautiful white snowy owl perched on the light pole surveying the field for breakfast. It was a great place to live.

During my first Winter in the Northland, I had a frightening experience. Each morning, I noticed blood on the front foyer glass door of the church. After cleaning it off, it would return the next morning. It was always about two feet above ground and was smeared. One morning, I arrived at church while it was still dark for a prayer meeting. As I sat in my office, I heard a strange pecking sound coming from the foyer. Grabbing a baseball bat, I crept through the sanctuary, and peeked into the foyer. Outside of the glass door, was the most beautiful male peacock I had ever seen. He was fanning his feathers and displaying his plumes in full array. With his beak, he was pounding the glass door with all of his might. Apparently, the glass appeared as a mirror to him, and all he could see was another peacock trying to get into his territory. His pride was bringing great pain to himself, and extra work for others.

Friends, there is a similar lesson in these two stories about the young girls and the peacock. The word that may tie them together is narcissism. It means to have a consuming love for yourself, and comes from a story in Greek mythology. A handsome youth named Narcissus, fell in love with his own reflection in the water. Refusing to eat or drink because he could not touch his image, he wasted away his life staring at himself. When he finally died, the myth says that he became a flower that we call the narcissus (or daffodil).

The word 'narcissist' means egotistical, self-focused, and vain. To a narcissist, everyone exists to make them happy. They expect others to serve them, feed them, encourage them, and to step aside so they can reach their goals. Most people are not 100% narcissistic. But too many lean that way. This may be the issue Toby Keith was addressing in his song that says, “I like talking about you, you, you, usually, but occasionally I wanna talk about me!”

Satan was a genuine, full-fledged, 100% committed narcissist. (Isaiah 14:12-14) Look where it got him! Think it over….