Aspects of Reflection (Part 1)

"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.

Isn't a mirror a good metaphor for God's will being done in earth as it is in heaven?

Think about it: a mirror creates an exact image of what is before it. Spiritually speaking then, you (as God's image and likeness) are an exact spiritual reflection of God. That means God's will - His purpose, His desire, His mandate - is mirrored in you, reflected in you, by you, as you.

Mrs. Eddy says this:

"Your mirrored reflection is your own image or likeness. If you lift a weight, your reflection does this also. If you speak, the lips of this likeness move in accord with yours. Now compare man before the mirror to his divine Principle, God. Call the mirror divine Science, and call man the reflection. Then note how true, according to Christian Science, is the reflection to its original. As the reflection of yourself appears in the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God."

"...so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God." God's will done in you as it is in heaven. God's desires awakening in you as they are already truly awake in heaven. God's perfect lovely qualities active as you, as the true heavenly you, as they are in heaven.

What would this feel like? what would your life look like? How would you feel, think, act, if you understood and accepted that, by reflection, God's will is really already yours? already active as your deepest spiritual yearning? already alive as your most natural native desire to live and help others live? to love and be loved?

But what if this "mirror" is dirty? What if it's covered in sin, sickness, and death? What if there's hatred, abuse, heridity, failure, guilt, dispair scratched on its surface?

Well, that's just it: it's only on the surface of the mirror. That "dirt" never touches God or His reflection. Just as if you had toothpaste on your bathroom mirror: that toothpaste never once touches you - or your reflection. It only appears to.

So just the same, if God is intact, then you - by reflection are also intact. If the mirror (the mental state) you're seeing your reflection in is material (limited to the perceptions of the physical senses and emotions) then you're looking at yourself through a dirty mirror. You are going to think that "toothpaste" is on you. You are going to think that something is horribly wrong with you. That you have immense amounts of work to do to become whole. That there might be a long recovery from "toothpaste-itis". That maybe you are unredeemable, scarred, fatally flawed, a lost cause.

But that is never the case. That is only the view you get when you think that the toothpaste on the mirror is actually you - and not seeing that you are actually perfectly fine, and that it's just the mirror (the mental state) that needs a little spiritual Windex.

... and isn't this also exactly the case when we look at those around us? when we see them as anything less than God's own likeness?

You already know that if you change your thinking - your perspective - you begin to see things (life, love, yourself, others) differently. If you walk up the hill, you see a wider view. So likewise, if you turn away from the tooth-pastey mirror and instead start looking at yourself and the world in the mirror of Divine Science - the divine understanding of God, the divine way God sees His creation, then your "mirror" (your thinking) goes "up" - it also gets a wider perspective. It sees beyond its previous limits. You begin to see yourself more clearly, more correctly, more according to God's perspective, God's point of view of you, God's view of the whole world. If you're honest, you will begin to see that, wow, you DO look just like how God made you and all creation: whole, spiritual, holy, loved! In short, the toothpastey view gets cleaned up.

Then comes the fun part: living from that higher, that more spiritual perspective. And practicing that keeps your mirror clean and your toothpaste on your toothbrush, where it belongs.

Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God - and God's perfect will and perfect viewpoint - is omnipotent, supreme.