Article August 30, 1930 Issue

Reflection

THOSE who have had an opportunity of viewing beauty spots of nature, or who have seen them portrayed in sketches or in paintings, will probably realize that the scene which particularly arrests the attention is the one that includes a reflection. The rugged mountain peaks, towering to magnificent heights, impress us with their grandeur; but when, in addition, a beautiful lake reflects the peaks and the blue sky against which they are outlined, our appreciation of nature's beauty is redoubled. Again, as we watch the great orb sink in all its splendor at sunset, how our joy at the wealth of coloring increases when we find this radiance reflected in some lake or river, or over a vast expanse of ocean!

As the waters by reflecting their surroundings serve to give us a more complete sense of the beauties of nature, so divine Science, revealing man as God's reflection, knowing only good thoughts, God's thoughts, brings to mankind a fuller realization of the ever-presence of God. "Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God," we read on page 516 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. As we grasp the great fact that man reflects God, what a wealth of freedom, scope, and unlimited possibility of achievement is opened to us! This understanding of reflection gives us the right to hope for and to expect everything that is good, even those things that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard." Our task becomes simple if we but remember that since man reflects God, one's only need is to watch that no frowning clouds, no mental storms, no sharp shafts of criticism or hate, shall mar one's perception of God's reflection.

One great example of this reflected light, which every Christian Scientist is striving to attain, is described in the thirty-fourth chapter of Exodus, which tells about Moses coming down from the mount after receiving the Ten Commandments. Here we read: "And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. ... And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face." Was not this light shining in the face of Moses the reflected glory that accompanied his close communion with God? Was it not the transparency of Spirit, undimmed by any material mist, which dazzled those who beheld him?

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