Lookalike

When my children were young, I loved to dress them in matching outfits, and yes, kiddos, I said outfits. I especially remember two sets quite well ... blue and red sailor suits, and purple shorts with purple, orange and white shirts. And no matter what my adult children may say, they were absolutely adorable in their matching clothing and I've got plenty of pictures to prove it. And I can promise my children that one day they will do the same with their own children.

As much as I enjoyed adorning my sons and daughter in matching attire, there was never any doubt that they were all very different ... in their personalities, their behavior, their physical characteristics ... very, very different little people from the moment they entered this world. And today, as adults, they remain very, very different all grown up people in every sense of the word.

Those of you who are frequent and faithful readers of this blog know that over the last nine months, I've lost a great deal of weight, over 90 pounds for those of you who are keeping score. Recently, I ran into someone I had not seen for almost two years. I didn't know it, but she had been watching me from a distance, trying to decide if it was really me or not. When she finally approached me, she said, "I've been standing over there for 15 minutes trying to decide if that was really you or not. You look like a totally different person!" While I know I look somewhat different now, I don't see such a drastic difference when I look in the mirror each morning, but to those who haven't seen me in a long time, I guess the change in me is fairly dramatic.

I've been thinking a lot recently about how I look to other people, not my outward appearance, but what my heart and soul look like. I wonder ... when people see me, do they see Jesus in me? Do I love like He loves? Do I have compassion like He has? Do I share like He shares? Do I speak the truth like He speaks it? When people see me, do they say, "She looks so different since she met the Savior of the world?"

As much as my children didn't want to look like each other when they were young, I want to be a lookalike when it comes to Jesus. I want Him to take away all of me and fill me to overflowing with Him ... His heart, His love, His selflessness.

Yep, I definitely want to be a lookalike ... a lookalike of Jesus.