Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Jesus said: The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: “God, I thank you that I am not like all other men - robbers, evil doers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and give a tenth of all I get.” Luke 18:11-12, NIV

In a moment of silliness, I inquired, “Mirror, mirror, in my hand. Who is the most handsome in the land.”
Starting to lay the mirror down, I added, “Well, mirrors talk for Walt Disney.”
And a voice responded, “He pays better than you do!”

(To simplify the following dialogue, ‘L’ will stand for Leland; ‘M’ for Mirror.)

L: What? Oh, so you can talk.

M: Ooops!

L: So answer the question.

M: Do I have to?

L: That’s the rule. I ask “Who is the most handsome guy in the land?,” and you always answer, “You are, O Master.”

M: Ahhh - You know that saying about “pride goeth before a fall.”?

L: Yes.

M: Get ready for a thump!

L: What do you mean?

M: Mirrors can not tell a lie. You are not the most handsome guy.

L: Oh! I’m not, huh? Pray tell, why not.

M: Ugly, ugly, ugly!

L: Well, thanks a lot! You know what happens to smart-aleck mirrors? Now YOU get ready for a thump!
(Raise mirror)
M: I wouldn’t do that if I were you!

L: And why not?

M: Seven years bad luck, you know.

L: Oh! Well, just the same, you deserve a good smashing for what you said. By the way, I see that you have a mirror on both sides. Does that mean you are two-faced?

M: All the better to see the truth.

L: I’ll bet! Well, just for fun, let’s try a second opinion.
(L. Turns mirror over)
Mirror, mirror, in my hand, who is the most handsome guy in the land?

M2: You are right! He IS ugly!

L: OK, OK. Well, if I’m not number 1, number 2 is still not so bad.

M: Uhhh . . . pick another number.

L: TEN?

M: Higher.

L: Higher?

M: More than 70 times 7.

L: Peter used that term in the Bible to mean a number so big it was beyond counting.

M: You got it!

L: Now, really!
OK, I’ll grant that there are probably guys that are more handsome than me. Just tell me who number One is, and I’ll go and congratulate him.

M: Sorry, I can’t give out his name.

L: What you mean is, you don’t know, and don’t want to look foolish.

M: Oh, I know all right, but after that Sleeping Beauty incident, we mirrors are not permitted to tell who it is.

L: Sleeping Beauty?

M: Yeah, my cousin, “Mirror on the Wall,” told that nasty old witch who the most beautiful girl was, and she put her to sleep for a hundred years.

L: Now do I look like the kind of person who would do something just to get even?

M: Well . . .

L: Watch it!

M: Any way, there are not enough princesses these days who are willing to risk kissing guys who are snoring away! Sorry, just can’t risk it.

L: I suppose you are right. But does that happen often? People get mad and get even if they can’t be number One?

M: Oh! All the time! For example, Jesus told about the vain man, praying in the Temple. Now suppose that I told him he wasn’t as perfect as he thought he was, and it was the tax collector who went home justified .

L: And you think he would do something to that other man, the tax collector?

M: Well, jealously can cause big trouble. Think back to Cain and Able, and how Cain was the first murderer. And their parents, Adam and Eve.
Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed that old snake, Satan, and everyone except mirrors has been lying ever since.

L: Sounds to me like you have your own case of “Better than thou.”

M: Well . . . Anyway, us mirrors have been looking at people for thousands of years, and some things never change.

L: Like what?

M: Well, tomorrow I’ll still be a mirror, and . . .

L: And what?

M: And you will still be ugly!

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Paul wrote: "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." I Corinthians 13:12, NIV

It was one of those "Aha!" moments. I happened to glance up and note my reflection in the window, mirroring my every move as I sat eating my breakfast on a dark, wintery morning. I thought, "What a perfect example of Paul's allegory of "Seeing through a glass darkly" in the 'Love Chapter' of his letter to the Corinthians." (Chapter 13, King James version.)
I knew what lay outside, on the other side of the window, but I could see nothing, because the contrast between my lighted table and the night outside transformed the window glass into a mirror, albeit an imperfect one.
So that's what Paul was talking about! We are unable to see the heavenly kingdom from the light of this life, seeing only an imperfect image of ourselves, because of the contrast of what is, and what is to be.
If I sit long enough, watch and wait long enough, the dawning will come. First, I will start to see a glimmer of red, presaging the advent of the dawn. I will begin to note the outlines of the trees in the woods, ghostly shapes only, backlit by the rising sun.
Soon, the image of the garage will take shape, although just a dark, blank area at first. Soon, I know, my image in the glass will fade, and the scene of God's great kingdom will fill my view in all its radiant splendor.
It was there all along; there was just such a contrast between the two worlds that the larger, more permanent one, was invisible.
By the time I sat down for my noon meal, the once hidden had been made plain. I could readily see the roughness of the bark on the trees, the branches moving slightly in the breeze. Squirrels use it for both a home and a gym, scurrying about, seeking their own lunch. Birds visit the feeders, placed there for the purpose of both providing them with food and us humans with visual enjoyment. Now the mirror effect is reversed; we can watch them, while they can not see us.
There is a vital, everlasting truth here. When we see ourselves only, though as in a glass, darkly, we focus on the image that we do see, not on the image of the world on the other side. Even though we leave the table and the window, in essence, we continue to focus on "our" world, and not God's world.
Sometimes we need reminders of what lies on the "other side." Regular times for meditation, for worship, Bible reading, and contemplation, bring us back for the 'meal' at the 'window,' to reveal God in all of His Glory.
January 7, 2007

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Paul wrote: "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." I Corinthians 13:12, NIV

It was one of those "Aha!" moments. I happened to glance up and note my reflection in the window, mirroring my every move as I sat eating my breakfast on a dark, wintery morning. I thought, "What a perfect example of Paul's allegory of "Seeing through a glass darkly" in the 'Love Chapter' of his letter to the Corinthians." (Chapter 13, King James version.)
I knew what lay outside, on the other side of the window, but I could see nothing, because the contrast between my lighted table and the night outside transformed the window glass into a mirror, albeit an imperfect one.
So that's what Paul was talking about! We are unable to see the heavenly kingdom from the light of this life, seeing only an imperfect image of ourselves, because of the contrast of what is, and what is to be.
If I sit long enough, watch and wait long enough, the dawning will come. First, I will start to see a glimmer of red, presaging the advent of the dawn. I will begin to note the outlines of the trees in the woods, ghostly shapes only, backlit by the rising sun.
Soon, the image of the garage will take shape, although just a dark, blank area at first. Soon, I know, my image in the glass will fade, and the scene of God's great kingdom will fill my view in all its radiant splendor.
It was there all along; there was just such a contrast between the two worlds that the larger, more permanent one, was invisible.
By the time I sat down for my noon meal, the once hidden had been made plain. I could readily see the roughness of the bark on the trees, the branches moving slightly in the breeze. Squirrels use it for both a home and a gym, scurrying about, seeking their own lunch. Birds visit the feeders, placed there for the purpose of both providing them with food and us humans with visual enjoyment. Now the mirror effect is reversed; we can watch them, while they can not see us.
There is a vital, everlasting truth here. When we see ourselves only, though as in a glass, darkly, we focus on the image that we do see, not on the image of the world on the other side. Even though we leave the table and the window, in essence, we continue to focus on "our" world, and not God's world.
Sometimes we need reminders of what lies on the "other side." Regular times for meditation, for worship, Bible reading, and contemplation, bring us back for the 'meal' at the 'window,' to reveal God in all of His Glory.
January 7, 2007