Reflection

After two weeks of rain, I was ecstatic when the clouds finally parted and let the sun shine in. Perfect for wandering around the garden, basking in the warmth and enjoying the brightness of it all. Last spring and summer, caterpillars had feasted on the Texas Mountain Laurel planted in front of the Lion of Judah fountain; I was checking its recovery, looking for new growth, when an unusual flash of blue on the Silver Ponyfoot beneath it caught my eye. Wait a minute...blue?

Silver Ponyfoot—soft but tough, drought and heat tolerant—it’s a carpet of light silvery

green, not blue! Staring at the shimmery light blue leaves, I thought what’s going on here?  I reached down to touch, and, under the shadow of my hand, they were green again. I remembered the blue glass globe hanging from the trellis nearby, and, after a simple scientific exercise of passing my hand in front of it, I saw that the blue glass was casting its reflection on the leaves. It was subliminally exquisite. 

I wish I had the intelligence, understanding—at very least the vocabulary—to discuss the wonders of the earth, the mysteries of physics, and other manifestations of God’s unsurpassed creativity. I do not. I can hardly express my thoughts about them. I can barely form the questions that arise from my soul as I take in the beauty and structure of our world. Light is especially fascinating—the way it glows, changes, reveals, blinds, reflects, penetrates.

Standing back and pondering the blue leaves before my eyes, it wasn’t hard to understand the simple effect of reflected light once I saw where it was coming from—outwardly simple, that is. Even my unscientific mind could see that the sunlight shone on the blue glass, causing blue light to bounce off at the right angle to hit the Silver Ponyfoot below it, causing the leaves to look blue. 

But then my mind went in an unscientific, other-worldly direction...

I saw myself as the Silver Ponyfoot. I saw Jesus as the blue globe, radiating his light on me. I saw the radiance of his Being casting his light on me, making me glow with Life. Without him, I have no real life, no ability to glow on my own. It’s the light of his Being shining in and through me that enables me to love others and live the life he wants me to live. The apostle John expressed this truth succinctly: “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

Jesus, the Light of the World, illustrates his life working through us another way: “I am the vine, you are the branches, if you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. These words are mysteries that science can’t yet explain or prove. I don’t understand the how, but by another mysterious intangible called faith, I believe that Jesus, the Christ, gave his life so we could have his eternal life in us; and so that we, who accept and believe, can be reflections of him in the midst of a fallen world. 

That is divinely exquisite, and so is this song: Like You, Lord