Look yourself in the eye

Next mirror you pass, meet your own eyes and hold them for ten seconds. Most people don't look at themselves. They check, fast, the way you check that the stove is off. Teeth, hair, collar, gone. Maybe meeting your own eyes used to mean starting a conversation you weren't ready for.

Smoking came with small secrets, even if the only one kept in the dark was you. The promise to stop on Monday. The count you rounded down. It's hard to look straight at someone you're hiding from. The cigarette taught you to check your face and skip your eyes.

That conversation isn't something to dodge anymore. It's a friendly one now. You and the person in the glass are on the same side. God has been doing repair work in you that no filter can fake, and He isn't finished. It shows in how long you can hold your own gaze.

Take one picture of yourself today. Ordinary light, no angle, no retakes, eyes straight into the lens. Save it and set a reminder a year out that says "Look again." You're going to want to see what God does with a year. Eye to eye. Nothing to hide.