She sat on the edge of her bed staring at her reflection in the mirror. The image gazing back at her was not the one she once knew.
As she looked into her eyes she found that they were full of pain and sadness. They used to be a happy dazzling green, but the sparkle was no longer there. The dark circles that nowencompassed them were evidence of many sleepless nights. She hadn’t had good night’s sleep in months. Between her health issues, sick children, and other worries, sleep was only found in daydreams. Her eyes paid the toll.
Her and her husband hadn’t been getting along. She got so tired of trying to please him and then getting yelled at. The marriage was falling apart right before her eyes. When it came to her, all he cared about was having a personal maid with perks. She felt used and unworthy. Life had become so overwhelming.
Little old ladies at church, old flames, and even strangersused to tell her she had the most beautiful green eyes they had ever seen. Now all they said was how tired she looked or how bad her dark circles were. She refused to believe that anything had changed. Sure she was a little tired, but it was nothing worth fretting over.
Finally, reality set in she realized that they were right. Something was definitely wrong. She looked terrible.
The tears began to trickle down her cheeks. How could she have let this happen? What could have she done differently? The only beauty she had ever possessed was fading.
Suddenly she stopped sobbing and looked at the image again. This time she looked deeper. It was as if she could see inside of her soul. What she saw on the inside was even worse. Where there were once flowers of hope and love there were now weeds of anger and bitterness. Where she used to have an ocean full of emotions it had become a desert.
She had spent so many years fretting over her outside appearance, but neglected the inside. Now she had nothing. She was a horrid sight inwardly and outwardly.
All of the sudden she heard a voice as if someone were standing behind the mirror. It said, “Beauty on the outside matters little if the inside is vile.”
12/12/04