Mirror

Today I looked into the mirror, and saw a little girl. She was very inexperienced, and completely oblivious to some important things. I was really surprised. For some reason I had been expecting to see a woman, but no, she was a little girl. She had spunk and potential, but she just wasn't there yet. Why was this so surprising? I should have known all along that she was still a kid, really. It takes a lot more than a couple years at college to turn a girl into a woman.
At first it bothered me. What was wrong? Why was she so young? But then I realized that really, she was doing the best she could with what she knew, just like everyone else, and that is good enough. No need to rush into things. To quote a wiser woman (or is she a girl, too?) than me,

What they don't understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you're eleven, you're also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don't. You open your eyes and everything's just like yesterday, only it's today. And you don't feel eleven at all. You feel like you're still ten. And you are—underneath the year that makes you eleven. ~ Sandra Cisneros, "Eleven"

Maybe I was seeing the 10 year old in the mirror today. I don't know. She was bright-eyed and cheerful, but missing some understanding. How did all those people that were her friends handle someone so young?How did they handle her immaturities? But then again, they were really just kids, too. A bunch of kids stumbling (and skipping) around in an adult world.
And I realized, God must be really laughing at us all, up there in heaven. Laughing at all of His little kids, making mistake after mistake, and often the same one several times in a row. But He is laughing because He loves them - us. And He knows that eventually we'll figure things out, in the long (really, really long - eternal) run. And its okay. We all need to be kids before we can grow up to be real adults (or Gods, hopefully).
So I turned around, leaving the mirror back there, with a small smile on my lips. Back to my little life, with my little worries. I'm sure glad I can be just a girl for now.
And I'm glad I can give Him a good laugh upstairs sometimes.