Happily Ever After - Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall

I pondered on the Snow White story line as you can tell by the posts this week but I really pondered on the Queen and her now famous question - "Mirror, Mirror, On the wall, Whose the Fairest one of all?"

I first started by thinking what "Fairest" means. In a game or contest, "fair" means both sides win equally. In the situation of a "Country fair" there is competition but it is usually a fun place where everyone's entries get judged "fairly." 

When you look at "fair" when talking about a person, it usually has something to do with their skin color or complexion. In other countries, especially where the skin of the people is darker toned, they really like "fair" complected people.

Fair complexion means white or lighter skinned. They are without blemish and are light or white skinned. When we look at Snow White, her name is "White" or as we discussed above, "fair." and Snow is white and pure when it falls from the sky. So, she was pure, white and clean without blemish or "mark."

The Queen never understood the meaning of the word. She looked only on the beauty of the outside but that isn't what "fairest" meant. Fairest was the cleanest, purest person in the land. When Snow White hit the age of maturity, she was still pure and kind. She held no malice for the Queen and her jealousy.

As I discussed in the introductory post about our camp theme, I shared that Snow didn't want revenge, she didn't get grumpy with "Grumpy" and she did all that she did to her best ability and when scared or lonely, she found ways to be positive through song and dreams and cleaning the environment that she found herself.

She was "Fairest" of them all. I think sometimes, we confuse ourselves with the Queens thinking. We look on the outside and exterior and judge others on how they dress or look rather than what is on the inside.

I know that most people including myself, often look in the mirror or at pictures of ourselves and make a judgment on ourselves. I wanted to do something in our lesson and carry it through to our camp this year that will help the girls make a difference in their world.

I pondered on it and came up with an idea. I searched for some hand mirrors. I went to all the stores in town and was blessed to find some at a dollar store. Princess Two had to pick some up for me and send them home with someone so we could have enough for our lesson and I was grateful for all the help to make this work.

I then took one mirror and wrote words that are negative that we have all thought of ourselves when we have looked in the mirror at times. Stupid, fat, dump, ugly etc. was written on the actual mirror using Sharpies of different colors.

On another mirror, I wrote words that we have probably thought about ourselves at times as well but they are positive words such as beautiful, kind, smart, loving etc.

On a third mirror, I wrote, "Whose voice do you hear?" and I got them ready for my lesson. I got each mirror engraved on the back with the words, "Your HIS fairest one of all." as I want the girls to remember that we each have talents and gifts and something about us that is beautiful as HE created us. So, we are each HIS fairest in our own way. I hoped that through this lesson and them getting the mirror to keep, they would remember that and choose to be gentle with themselves.

I wanted to find an oval mirror that we could use at camp and posted a note on facebook hoping someone had one we could use but it had to be light and I didn't want to break one someone owned so I "Put it out there" as I do and the next day at the second hand store, the oval mirror and the candle holders were there as a set for $4. They are made of plastic so they are light and we can use them at camp but they were perfect for my lesson. I also go some flicker flame-less candles at the second hand store for $3 for a bag and they were new. I used "Funtak" to attach the candle holders to the chalk board and hung the mirror with wire from a hook. I used the candles and turned them on for my lesson. It worked out well.

During the lesson, I asked for volunteers to help. Three girls volunteered and I asked them to each pick a mirror off the table.

I had them numbered on the back as I wanted them to be able to write comments on how the mirrors made them feel on a handout I gave each of them.

The first girl picked up number three and it said, "Whose Voice Do You Hear?" I asked her when she looked into the mirror, did she feel good about herself or sometimes picked out things she didn't like about herself. She said that often she did hear a negative voice when looking in the mirror and we figured out that that was Satan's voice in the mirror as Heavenly Father's or our own voice would probably see sometime good in the mirror.

The Second girl picked number one which had all the negative words on it. The girls looked at the words and looked like she was about to cry. I think once she sat down she actually did get a tear in her eye. I asked her how looking in that mirror made her feel. She said it made her "sad and feel bad about herself."

I reinforced to that girl that those are not things we think about her and that she is beautiful but that sometimes, we think those things about ourselves when we look in the mirror and it makes us feel sad and negative about ourselves.

The last girl picked mirror number 2 which had the kind and loving words on it. She got a HUGE grin on her face when she looked into the mirror. When asked about how looking into that mirror made her feel, she said it made her feel "beautiful and good."

I reminded the girls that as long as we are allowing things that other people say to be in our head and when we look in the mirror and hear the negative that Satan projects, we will continue to struggle with our beauty and value where others and ourselves are concerned.

I then handed out the mirrors that I had engraved and let them each choose their favorite color. The words on the back are a bit raised and hopefully will remind the girls each time they pick it up that they are "HIS fairest one of all."

I also took a silver Sharpie and wrote on the front of each mirror, "HIS Voice" at the bottom of the mirror side. I shared with the girls that we should hear only HIS voice when we look in the mirror and that all the negative things that come into our thoughts should be sent away promptly and that we shouldn't allow them to stay and give them any energy or thought.

I then had them take a second and write down their thought about how they felt looking into each mirror. I gave them time to express their feelings about it and was grateful that I was asked to help with camp as it gave me the opportunity to focus on my own issues when I look in the mirror and see someone who isn't who I want to be. Sometimes, we can't help what happens to our looks or body but we can control our thoughts about those things. 

While they were writing down their thoughts, I played this song that my friend found that fit the situation. Here is a link to it, the song is called "Beautiful for Me" by Mercy River. I got lots of positive feedback from the girls and from some of the mothers of the girls as they saw what their daughters had written on the papers about how the different mirrors made them feel.

We liked the lesson so much that we decided to get the mirrors for the other congregation that we "swap" gifts with at camp. We will give them each an engraved mirror with a little card attached explaining the mirror.

I hope they enjoy them as much as we have. We also got a compact mirror with each hand mirror purchase so we will be engraving "HIS" on the backs of those and giving those to the girls at camp so they can have that in their backpack, locker or purse to remember that they are HIS and hopefully remember when looking in those mirrors to only allow HIS voice to be the voice inside their head!

I am grateful for the inspiration that my Heavenly Father gives when I ask for help and I am grateful for the little items he sends when I ask for them or "put out there" that I need.

I am grateful that the girls can know that they are each "Fairest" being pure, white and beautiful in HIS eyes. I hope they always remember that as society, magazines, movies and internet can often only reflect what others think of as beautiful and not necessarily Fairest! So, referring to the famous Queen question, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, Whose the fairest one of all?" I hope that we can all now realize - WE ARE!