Volume 28, No. 12
March 23, 2003

Life:  Look At It This Way

   Perhaps a few reflections on the topic of mirrors will help us come face-to-face with some important spiritual issues.

   The word mirror comes from the Latin mirari, meaning to wonder at.  It’s also the root word for admire and miracle.  While miracles have largely fallen out of fashion, our inclination to admire ourselves is still strong.  That’s why mirrors are installed in most large buildings.  People complain less about slow elevators when they’re busy looking at themselves.

   To find out if there’s somebody looking back from the other side of the glass, try this simple test.  Place the tip of your fingernail against the surface.  If there’s a gap between your nail and the glass, it’s an ordinary mirror.  But if your fingernail directly touches the image, look out — it’s the two-way type.

   No matter what kind of mirror we gaze into, it gives off no light of its own.  So when light hits the shiny surface, it bounces off in the opposite direction, but at the same angle it came from. That seemingly supernatural process prompted the ancient Chinese to put reflective pieces of polished brass on doorknobs so evil spirits would scare themselves away.  Superstition still surrounded mirrors in the 1600s when the Dutch placed curtains over mirrors not in use, fearing the reflectiveness would be used up. Since many people thought their reflection was an expression of their spiritual self, it was believed that if anything disturbed that reflection, harm would follow. That’s how we first got the idea that breaking a mirror would bring bad luck.

   In an Oregon elementary school, kids weren’t breaking the bathroom mirrors.  But many young girls just learning how to use lipstick were pressing their lips against the glass, leaving dozens of smudges.  So the principal called the suspects into the washroom and asked the custodian to demonstrate how hard it was to clean the mirrors.  The janitor dipped a long-handled brush into the nearest toilet and scrubbed the glass.  After that, no more lip marks.

   We’re often left to wonder at human behaviour, but much of what we do depends on where our focus is fixed.  If we admire the things of the world to the point of almost total distraction, we’ll miss the miracle of the living God working in our lives. In the beginning, when Eve ate the forbidden fruit, sin took root when attention was diverted from the Sovereign to the self.  “’You won’t die!’ the serpent hissed.  ‘God knows your eyes will be opened when you eat it.  You’ll become just like God, knowing everything,both good and evil.’  The woman was convinced.  The fruit looked so fresh and delicious and it would make her so wise!  So she ate some of the fruit.” (Gen. 3:4-6).  We still primp to the reflection of ourselves in shiny, forbidden fruit, especially when we’re just putting in time, waiting for life to take us somewhere.

   Instead, we must become mirrors that reflect the light and goodness of God.  Two-way mirrors, with no gap between us and the image of Christ.  Mirrors that reflect the Lord both on the inside and the out.  We must make a conscious effort to come at everything from the same angle as Jesus, knowing we have no light of our own.  If we’ll do that, his enlightenment will expose the ugliness of evil and scare away the sin “crouching at the door” with malice on its mind (Gen. 4:7).

   Our Spirit-given ability to reflect Jesus is limitless, unless we cover our hearts with a curtain of unconcern.  The threat isn’t that we’ll use up the power, but that we won’t use it, period.  And let’s recognize that the image of Christ we project truly is an expression of our spiritual self.  If we allow that reflection to be damaged, there’s bound to be harmful consequences, not because God will afflict us with misfortune, but because we — and those who watch us — can be severely hurt when we try to mirror a distorted picture of Jesus.  

   So the choice is stark.  We can use God’s power to reflect his Son, or kiss up to the self-image we get from the world.  Just remember where the brush is dipped.

By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the Followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.  Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications.  To subscribe, contact sgamble@bfree.on.ca