The beauty of fall lingers on.   Recently on a walk with one of my son’s (my talented photographer!)  we encountered a still cool lake with a spectrum of colorful leaves reflecting in the water.  I lingered for a while pondering about the quality of water to reflect like a mirror the splendor that the trees humbly displayed.  Later while musing about the deeper symbolism of the reflection in the water, I came upon this passage from Proverbs 27:19- As in water face reflects face, So the heart of man reflects man.  My take on this is that we are more than face value, more than our appearance and our worldly identity.  The heart of man is akin to our soul, our identity in God.

This idea is seen right in the beginning, in Genesis and the creation story, I think we have all heard about being made in God’s image.  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.- Genesis 1:27.   When we here this verse, I think we naturally think of being created or modeled in God’s physical form.  The Bible is filled with beautiful metaphors, I believe this verse alludes to being more like God mentally, spiritually and emotionally.  Us, the tiny spark of God within us all to illuminate our own lives and to shine out into the world providing comfort, inspiration and praise akin to the luminous and wonder filled quality that the reflection in the lake invokes.

Photo by Jacob Bernier 

Paul, who wrote many of the later chapters of the New Testament asks us do just this and model God.  We model God not in a way that presumes that we are god’s ourselves, but similar to the way a child models the characteristics of their parents, held in love and taught how to be loving and faithful.  Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.- Ephesians 5:1-2.   I offer one more bible quote here, this time from 2 Corinthians 3:18- And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.  I sense what Paul is suggesting here is that through accepting Jesus into our lives the veil between God and man is removed.  Through this relationship we actually glorify God by becoming more Christ like, reflecting his characteristics back out into the world.  Spirit moves more readily within us which acts as the transformer helping us to be more like Jesus.   

Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest and in my eyes a modern mystic speaks to this idea of imitating Christ.  He suggests we do this more with our action here in this short passage from The Universal Christ: “Jesus was clearly more concerned with what Buddhist’s call “right action” than with right saying or even right thinking….Humanity now needs a Jesus we can practically imitate and who sets the bar for being human.” So well said, perhaps humanity is looking in all the wrong places, as we model and reflect behaviors and actions that are clearly not embodying the characteristics of Jesus.

Modern psychology also sees value in the concept of reflecting, but psychologically speaking this is called mirroring.  Therapist and their client benefit greatly from this simple practice.  In mirroring the therapist repeats back or paraphrases what the client says, it is a simple tool for helping the client feel understood and valued.  This is often done in couples’ therapy to help clients become aware of their typical patterns of communication and how this can be ineffective and often volatile, perhaps because they are not taking the time to truly see, hear and value each other.   Slowing down and taking the time for clearer communication where both parties have a voice that is held in compassion can be truly transformative.   So, the heart of man reflects man (or woman).   Perhaps if more of us could see God in our beloved and think “what would Jesus do” before we interacted with others there would be more harmony in our homes, cities and nations.

The reflective quality of water, that can be so captivating in nature will only touch the heart or the soul of one who seeks this beauty.  The reflection of nature in water is best observed when the water is still.   Choppy water leads to a distorted image.   Much like how a busy, overscheduled life and mind will not allow for personal growth and connection to spirit. 

I have a few dear friends that I can see God in so clearly or at least feel his presence within them and infusing our sacred friendship.  I sense they can see God in me too.  We all have flaws and faults but like the broken or dying trees in the reflection in the lake, these are of little consequence.  These relationships are truly sacred because we take the time to actually see each other, reflect and mirror each other and little God sparks reflect and illuminate making the space between us and within each of us more beautiful for it.  May we all take this time to see the forest from the trees, to step away from our so-called problems and see the glory of God in ourselves, in nature and in all of humanity.