Reflections and Refractions

Often times when I am in my daughter’s bedroom, I would look at the full-length mirror and tell her “Your mirror is not nice.” Why? “Because I don’t look good (slim), it is not truthful.”

If we want to know how we look, we go to a plane mirror so we can see our reflections. But reflections do not happen only in a mirror. Reflections of who we truly are come in different forms. Perhaps in a traffic jam, a crying child, a hot weather, a long queue, a sleepy student, a crisis, the list can go on.

James 1:23 also implies that the Scripture is actually like a mirror that shows us the truth.

Reflections affect all our senses and emotions thus bring us to a realization of the truth and reality of a situation. But reflections don’t really do much without letting it go “through” us by way of Refraction.

Refractions bring out the different areas that are responsible for what has been reflected. As a result, we have explicit action plans that can correct or enhance what has been brought to our senses. If after looking at the mirror and I decide to forget what I saw because it does not please me, then it will not do any good to me. The reflection is useless. But if I let it go further to refract through my mind and decide to keep a good diet with exercise, that reflection becomes an agent of change in me.

James 1:24-25 then reminds us that when you look at the scriptures like a mirror, look intently into it, never forgetting what it says but actually doing it. Then, you will be blessed in what you do.

Reflections do not only come from the mirror or the scriptures but from daily walks of life. Some things come along our path and just go by. Some things are meant for us to capture, process and create refractions that will make a positive mark in us and the life of others.

The next time you see a reflection, let it further create refractions.

James 1:23-25 New International Version (NIV)

23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.