Thursday, April 10, 2014

All Glory is Reflected Glory

Starter Prayer:  "My God, this changes everything.  Let it be true for me.  Let me see what you saw.  Allow me to know that I and all of us are reflections of the Eternal Glory."  (From Wondrous Encounters by Richard Rohr)

I realize that the idea of reflecting the Love of God to others would be impossible if God had not taken the initiative to infuse Divine Love and Light within each of God's Children.  Yet God did choose to do that and therefore every where we go we reflect God's glory.   So think for a while how a reflection happens and what it activates in human experience.

The reflection of light on the rippling water is called "diamonds on the water" by my sailing friends.


Whenever we see the pathway revealed on the water (whether it is the sun or the moon that projects the light) all on board the boat exhale -- ahhh... "diamonds on the water"!   Not really diamonds, of course, but in that moment the reflection is more precious than if diamonds were literally in the water-- of course, diamonds would sink!

And I love to savor the reflections that emerge from lectio divina or prayerful reading.  The result is so much "more" than the specific words on the page, because they spill outward from the heart, bypassing the mind's need to analyze or judge whether or not they make "sense".  

The essence of reflection is, for me, beauty and love.  A reflection is elusive, sometimes, but when it is noticed it compels the observer to stand still.  It is a wordless dialog of appreciation of both source and object.  

So.... When I realize that each one of us has the capacity to reflect God's love, I can't help but think that in some way when somebody "notices" God's glorious love through an encounter with us, something magnificent happens.  It is not about us at all, no more than diamonds on the water are about the water or a reflective thought is about the words that stimulated it.

What shimmers and shines when we reflect God's love and glory is the connection that God desires and initiates with all of God's creation.  So much more than us, yet in that moment, something that might not have been noticed by the "other" if we had not been there.   

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