Perfectly You

Often we look to someone we respect, and we attempt to emulate them. In its most simple form, there is nothing wrong with such a gesture. After all, it is said, "Imitation is the highest form of flattery." However, there are hidden problems in echoing another.

Picture with me, if you will, two women dressed exactly alike standing side by side in front of a mirror. Woman one raises her right hand and begins to wave her arm gently from side to side. Women two attempts to mimic W1. So now you see two women, dressed alike, waving. If you look closely, you'll see the beginning of "the problem." Woman one is looking straight ahead, she sees herself and can see where improvement of her form can be made. She notices that her shoulders slump and that she is standing incorrectly. She sees her hair is in need of treatment and her skin could use some moisturizer. In short, she understands where she needs some work.

Woman one drops her arm, and immediately gets to work on her "problem areas." She seeks an expert for hair and learns what she must do; she applies oil for treatment. She seeks counsel from a dermatologist and uses a special lotion for her skin type on her face. While oil treats her hair and the lotion settles into her dry skin, she begins working on perfecting her stance. She even works with a trainer to make sure she is doing everything she needs to do better herself.

Woman two quickly follows suit. She oils her hair and uses the same lotion on her face; she adjusts her form as to mirror Woman one. Woman two witnesses the trainer and W1 working on stance, so W2 begins to improve her body as she sees W1 do.

After a while, W1 rinses her hair, styles it and as she looks in the mirror she sees her hair is glorious. It shines, it's voluminous, every curl is perfectly placed. Her skin, now moisturized, has a radiant glow, as she gazes at her reflection she observes that she now stands tall, she looks regal. She's perfection.

True to suit, Woman two copies Woman one's every move. She is looking at Woman's One's reflection in the mirror, but she notices something strange within herself. Something isn't right. So for a brief moment, she averts her eyes from W1 to look at her own reflection. What she sees is appalling. Her hair is not glorious; it's anything but, it's oily and limp, clinging most unattractively to the sides of her face. HER FACE! It's covered with grotesque acne. It shines, but not from a radiant glow; she looks unwashed. Because W2 mimicked the physical needs of W1, she unknowingly caused her body to twist and become maladjusted. Her reflection was NOTHING like W1's.

The two women began on relatively equal ground. W2 would have been fine to glance at W1 from time to time and imitate what she saw as beautiful in W1. But the problems, the disfigurement, arose when W2 would not take her eyes from W1 and look for the "needs improvement" signs in her self-reflection.

Too often we do this in the Kingdom. We find a mentor, a person worthy of respect and we begin to emulate them; their every move. The problem arises when we focus our eyes on them and never ourselves. We see God working in their lives and assume we need improving there as well. But we are unique; we are to imitate the reflection of Christ in others, NOT imitate their walk in Christ.

"Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ." 1 Corinthians 11:1

Christ does not desire for you to be ANYONE, but YOU. You were created UNIQUELY and for His purpose. If He had wanted you to be someone else, you would be them. Your walk with Him will be uncomfortable and look deformed if you are trying to fool the Creator and yourself.

You will never be satisfied with yourself unless you are willing to BE YOU and allow God to work on YOU as YOU need improvement. And the Creator will not be satisfied with YOU if you pretend to be someone He NEVER asked you to be. He desires time spent with you. I imagine it can be likened to our going to a friends house for a visit only to find total strangers living there. How disappointed would you be if the intruders attempted to pass themselves off as a replica of your friend?