Bits of Magic Mirror

You and I are up against a world full of lies that distort what’s really true.

That distortion is illustrated in the classic fairytale The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen. In the story, the devil creates a magic mirror that distorts everything it reflects. One day, students of the devil attempt to carry the mirror into heaven so they can mock God and his angels. But the higher the students ascend, the more the mirror shakes … until, finally, they lose their grip. The mirror falls back to earth, shattering into billions of pieces that drift on the wind and carry throughout the earth. The bits freeze people’s hearts and distort their vision so the good and the beautiful disappear while evil and ugliness are magnified.

The real world you and I live in gets equally twisted. Good, noble, and sacred values that ought to be universally upheld as bedrock to our culture are dismissed, redefined, or destroyed entirely. Meanwhile, controversial ideologies that were unthinkable a few generations ago are now accepted, even celebrated.

You and I aren’t going to know what’s true easily. We have to work for it. It’s hidden behind lies dressed up as truth, promising freedom, but ending in suffering, corruption, and death. You and I are only ever truly free when we rub away the bits of magic mirror that distort our vision so we can see clearly what’s beautiful and good.