by Grace Araujo Kolman.

Created on: July 05, 2008

"You shall have no other gods besides me"
Exodus 20:3

1. Looking at yourself in the mirror

Who haven't ever heard about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Brothers Grimm's fairy tale? The one where the wicked queen used to look at her mirror and ask:
- "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the loveliest lady in the land?" The reply was always; "You are, your Majesty."

Everyday the queen had to feed her ego by asking the mirror about her beauty. She could never imagine, of course, that someone one day would naturally take her place. Like so, this shocking day arrived, and when she heard the mirror answering that Snow White was the "loveliest in the land" she started planning against the little girl's life.
Many of us as children would rather sympathize with Snow White than to the Wicked Queen. Nevertheless in our adulthood we tend to behave just like the Snow White's stepmother, instead of looking at the innocent girl of the story, who carries so much kindness and love for everyone and everything around her.
The big question here is:
- What do you see when you look at yourself in the mirror? Regardless of your answer, give it another try and face the challenge of finding the real you beyond the physical features. Realize what intricate being you are; we are.
Some of us have spent too much time trying to find out about our neighbors, the new couple who came to the sanctuary, or even talking about the problems our neighbors are having with their garden, other than spend at least thirty minutes per day looking for ourselves in the midst of our anguish. We tend to hide the "dirty" feelings under the hug. We try to put on a big smile during the service to show how strong we are. We have no time to talk to our adolescent child, or maybe we have no courage to do so, because we might not know how to do it, simply because we've lost track on our children's needs, while someone else takes advantage of their vulnerability.
The process of dehumanizing ourselves comes gradually, but continuously. Step by step we keep forgetting about the Center of our Universe, God, and then we become the Center of the Universe in our own minds. That's when we trespass the first commandment of not having other gods besides our God in our lives. I call it a lack of spirituality, or in other words, the deficiency of being in contact with the Creator We start thinking that we are in charge or that His creation as rulers and judges. This path leads us to vanity, arrogance, selfishness and prejudice.

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