Through the Looking Glass

by Jennifer Morgan

“What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face. What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete—as complete as God's knowledge of me.” ~ 1 Corinthians 13:12 (GNT)

Each morning, my day begins with prayer and Scripture devotions. Much of the time it is in the quiet of my living room with my dogs softly snoring and snuggled up against me. Sometimes the day begins outside in the cool of my garden, where I am serenaded by birdsong. This is my time to “Be Still” and listen for God’s quiet voice...before the phone starts ringing, the lawn mowers start humming, and errands call out for my attention.

True to His promise, when I purposefully quiet myself to hear Him, He speaks gently into my heart.  And oddly enough, one of the places I hear God speak is while I am in front of the mirror going through my morning make-up routine!  I began to think about that recently as I looked at myself in the mirror with a freshly scrubbed face, sans make-up.  I don’t really see myself except for this part of the day, and, like many women, very few people ever see me without my face prepared for others to see.  As I looked into my own eyes and face, seeing the fine lines that fifty-four years have gracefully etched, a line from Scripture gently planted itself into my heart and mind: “What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face. What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete—as complete as God's knowledge of me.”

Suddenly, I imagined my mirror to be a two-way mirror.  I was on the dark, one-way side of it...and Jesus was standing on the other side looking back at me.  What did He see, I wondered?

His answer came as I continued to stare at my own reflection.   When we look at ourselves, we see our flaws, our scars, the lines etched from both the joyful and sorrowful experiences of life.  When Jesus looks at us through the mirror, He sees an exquisite creature. “So God created human beings in his own image.  In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27 NLT) What Jesus sees is a reflection of His own glory, which lives inside our frail, earthen vessels.  Jesus looks past our hair, skin and eye color, our height, our weight, our physical flaws.  He looks into our eyes and into our spiritual hearts and sees His own Light reflected back at Him.  

Depending on where we are in our walk with Christ, the Light He sees may be dim, flickering or as radiant as the sun.  And, because He sees into our hearts and knows us so completely, He lovingly speaks to the areas of our hearts that need to be flooded with His Holy Light.  The things He speaks to our individual hearts are always perfect and true, because as His image bearers, we are much beloved and were created to reflect His Light into a broken world.

One glorious day, the barrier on our one-way side of the mirror will be removed, and we will see our Creator fully revealed to us...we will finally know Him as fully and completely as He has known us.  I can only imagine what it will be like to look into my mirror on that day and see my beautiful Jesus looking back at me!

Thanks to Jennifer Morgan for this guest post. We'd love to hear from other Abingdon Women and welcome your reflections as well.  Find out how you can guest post here.  You can also connect with Jenn at her blog.