reflection

Below is a post I wrote in July 2007. With blogs sites, I rarely go WAY back to read old posts, so I thought I'd cheat and bring this one into July 2008. It ties in directly with our gathering last night - as we took time to interact with art in the gallery followed by sitting quietly with God and listened to how He may be speaking to us. Then we responded through writing. Here is the post...

What does it mean to have a reflective soul?
(Go ahead, think for a moment and quietly answer it in your mind).

I have a digital SLR camera which I love more than chocolate. The lens, where it attaches to the camera, is small and sensitive. The other end of the lens has a filter protecting the delicate rounded glass. Many fancy filters are available that can be used for creative shots, such as a star filter, colored filters or a polarizer. These all affect the way light is captured for a particular artistic effect.

When you look through the eye piece of the camera, you see the world through a series of glass disks. With just a little pressure on the shutter button, the image comes into focus. When you're ready, snap the shot. As you do so light enters the lens, reflects off the mirror and lands on a sensor that in turn creates the image of your desire. You hope for the best. So you upload your pictures to your computer and anxiously wait to see if it has the beauty you tried to capture. Sometimes you are amazed at your nearly professional ability to create fantastic shots. Other times you can't hit the "delete" button fast enough, forever erasing that terrible image.

I see this same scenario in my life. My eyes capture a "scene" and in seconds it passes through my "filter" of beliefs, moods, hormones. Then it enters my soul and reflection begins. An "image" forms. Sometimes it's positive, other times it's one that I never wish existed.

Seeing, thinking and processing life's scenes is living out of a reflective soul. We don't let the moment pass without deep consideration and asking for God's wisdom in the midst of it. Through the Holy Spirit's guidance and the experience of our individual lives, we reflect more than what the human eye can see. We take in and then we project an "image" through our perspective which is unique and interesting. Doing this through the art of writing allows others to see the "image" also. From that, they start the process over again with their set of filters and lenses leading to their own active reflective soul.

We can't help but read someones writing or absorb a painting only to be lead on a journey into the interior of our soul. God longs to meet us in an intimate way and He often uses forms of artistic work to do so. Take time and sit with a "scene" - how can you express the reflection of your soul so that others can experience it as well?

God speaks to us through our work of reflection and He speaks to us through other people's work of reflection. How awesome is that...