Right Before My Eyes

I was looking at myself in the mirror the other day when I started thinking about life, what it means, where we’re going, and why it even matters.  I was thinking about my spirit, how it existed before I was born, how I, as a spirit, lived with Heavenly Father before I came to this earth.  As I was looking at my face in the mirror, I contemplated the gift of my body.  This is the body Heavenly Father gave me.  This is my body, the body I was given to care for, to grow in, to experience mortality in.  This life is unique.  It’s the first time that my spirit ever took on a body.  It’s the first time that my spirit and body ever became one, and each day of this mortal life, my body and spirit are together, affecting each other for good or for bad.  This union is only temporary right now.  One day my spirit will leave my body and they will exist apart.  And some day, through the Savior’s atonement, my spirit and body will become reunited, more glorious than my little brain can imagine.

Looking at myself in the mirror, looking into my eyes, I tried to find that spirit.  I resolved to try to be better to it, to try to be better to my body so that the spirit part of me can shine more.  I resolved to try to be better to my spirit so that my body can become more of what it was meant to be.  I was reminded that I need my spirit and body to be in harmony with each other for my soul to grow.

There is so much more to us than what we see on the outside.  There is something much deeper, with a bigger purpose, something that existed long before we came to mortality and something that will exist long after.  Somehow this mortal life is the link between those two points of eternity.  I think our minds would pop if we had even a glimpse of what that really means in the whole realm of things, but I believe that at least the basic point is true: we existed before we came to earth, we still exist now, and we’re going to exist ever after.  Being reminded of that helps me remember why this life really does matter, and why I can’t ignore what’s right before my eyes when I look in the mirror: a body and a spirit, united.  A soul.