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.

Thy will be done & desire (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.

"Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds." - Mary Baker Eddy

Isn't turning your will, your deepest desire - which really is your most sincere prayer - over to God a way of yielding to His will? Isn't it a way of letting His will be done in earth - your current human experience - as it is in heaven - your actual spiritual identity as His perfect image and likeness?

And if so, wouldn't that imply that God's will for you on earth is as beautiful as His will is for you in heaven?

And if so, couldn't you trust your most secret heart-felt even unspoken yearnings over to Him? Especially if you knew that to do so would only mean that they would be molded and exalted for you? So that they would be clarified and purified and beautified for you before you experience them? Wouldn't that be a good thing? Wouldn't that be letting God's will be done in your heart as it is in His?

But, honestly, you're kidding yourself if you think that yielding your desires to God is easy. It often isn't. In fact, how often are you even honest with yourself about your innermost desires? How easy it even to trust yourself with your own deepest feelings and needs and wants?

But here in this verse, Jesus is encouraging you to take that step of trust with God. You can do it. You can let go of your will, your attempts to control your life, your love, lust, your status, talents, paycheck, companionship, family, safety, duties and obligations, your fulfillment, your life, your joy.

And notice something important: Mrs. Eddy said "Desire is prayer." She didn't put qualifiers on it. She didn't say "good desire" or "spiritual desire" or "righteous desire." Mrs. Eddy said "Desire is prayer." Desire itself is a form of prayer. All desire is a form of prayer. In fact, it's probably the most sincere form of prayer there is because, in essence, it's wordless. It's what you feel. It's what you yearn for.

So who are you praying to? who are you trusting your desires to? A bottle? a body? a drug? food? adreneline? solitude? entertainment? ritual? fear? shiny objects? Are you trusting your desire - your prayer - to these "gods"? Then you may be asking amiss.

Do you think you can only bring your nice polite desires to God? Do you think God can't handle your mean selfish lusty passionate crazy desires? that you can't trust Him with those? You can - if you are prepared to be molded and exalted! Because you will be.

Remember Jesus, who companioned with sinners, walked with outcasts, who touched lepers. He "molded and exalted" the desires of anyone who turned to him, who asked him for help, who trusted in him. Molded, how? in the image of God. Exalted, how? He "lifted their lives higher than their poor thought-models would allow" (as Mrs. Eddy states it), and his correct view of God's will in their lives healed every one of them.

And God still does the same thing. For you. Now. Jesus' prayer promises you that.

As the old saying goes, you can let go and let God. You can let God's perfect will for you grow in your heart. Let His perfect purpose for you emerge gently in your life. Let it awaken you to clearer views of what your desires are really telling you. Even let it even "explode in a fury of blossom!" as the poet says.

To trust your desires to God is to connect with Him in the most fundamental way. "...and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires..." Why? Because God is Love itself. God's will for you in earth is exactly the same as His will for you in heaven: it is perfection, wholeness, unity, authenticity, bliss. It is total goodness. As it says in Philippians: "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

And notice that it's God's good pleasure that works in you. Not His burdensome pleasure or His boring pleasure or His unsatisfying pleasure! So take that step. Trust your will, your yearning, your deepest desires to God. Let Him mold and exalt them - purify, clarify, and enthuse you about them. As you do, you'll find His will becomes your will. And you will find that it is a joyful thing. You'll find reflecting God's will is indeed a good pleasure.

Then this verse in Psalms will start ringing true for you:

"As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness."

"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." Because God enables us to know, as in heaven, so on earth His will is omnipotent, supreme - and supremely good for you, everyone around you, and, in fact, everyone in the universe.