At some point during this adventure that God has invited you into, your eyes will be opened to the fact that this is as much about you as it is about them. At the moment you see that, you will be very near to the moment that they will begin their journey home. I will call this the “Mirror Moment”. And although God has been doing a work in the deep areas of you both, it is all connected to the future that He has for you together.

In my own life, I got a really good look at myself in God’s mirror. I saw every crack and imperfection and flaw in my own soul, and it became a very sobering and defining moment. You see, in a mirror you are seeing your own reflection, but you are also seeing behind you. And the only reason for God to show us what is behind us is so that we can see just how far we have come. I realized that the only reason why I am still here and able to see that great distance is because of God’s endless mercy. If I had gotten what I deserved, I would not be here writing this today. It is only because of His mercy that we are not consumed by the consequences of the decisions that we make. In this mirror I could see every wrong and harmful decision that I had made in my life and I had no other choice but to recognize Him and worship Him for all the second chances.

When you have the revelation of how far God has carried you through yor own personal process, your eyes will be opened to the very same process that your loved one is currently in. How can we hold someone else’s bad decisions against them once we have gotten a good look at our own? How can we continue to hold others responsible for their past actions when God has willingly chosen to forget about ours? This moment is the turning point because you have to first consider yourself before you are qualified to receive another person back from their pig pen. Galatians 6:1 says, “Brothers and sisters, if any of you be overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual should restore such a one, considering yourself, lest you also fall into temptation.” We are not supposed to keep our foot on anyone, and those of us who recognize our own redemption should be the first ones to reach out and offer restoration to others who are feeling their way along the same path.

At the moment the father in Luke 15 had seen Himself in that mirror, I bet His son was also looking into a similar mirror. The father in the story is God, and His son who wandered off was received back enthusiastically, because God had already paid the price for all the sin and debt the son would ever commit. How badly it must have hurt God when we walked away, all while He knew He had already paid for us to come back home!

While the son was in the pig pen, he reflected on how well even his father's servants were treated and, in that moment, he saw the reflection of all his mistakes. And that is when he realized that it did not have to end this way. The reason I believe the earthly father in this story had not yet seen his own reflection in the mirror is because the son had begun to prepare a big speech, practicing for the moment he would return down the road home. It could be that the father had never made his son aware of his nature and willingness to forgive, or the son might have taken that generosity for granted. So, he humbled himself and prepared to give an account of all his actions, not knowing that while he was away, the fathers heart was being prepared by the same God of both journeys. The reaction of the father when the prodigal finally came home is the reaction of a man who has considered his own past and is now jumping at the opportunity to share the same mercy and compassion that he has received himself.

These seasons are like a fire that a refiner uses as precious metals are purified for use. The refiner knows that the silver or gold is ready to be taken from the fire when all the sediment and impurities have been removed, leaving a mirror like surface on the liquid metal. When he can see his own reflection, he knows the process is complete.

Once we have confronted the truth that we have also been through our own refining process and come through, we will naturally react like the father who quickly restored his son who had also looked in the same mirror and has returned home.