Two Mirror Images

 

 

Here are two realities

I want to suggest,

Cognizant there’re probably more

But at two I will rest.

 

Two mirror images:

The actual and the felt

And personally, with both

I have dealt.

 

The actual is physical;

It is what you see,

The felt is what you wish for;

What you’d like to be.

 

 

 

They are both real

But one is in the mind,

The one that is to be developed

Over time.

 

A work in progress

But not cosmetically so

Like the beauty care painted on

To make faces glow.

 

Oh no, this is deeper;

It is who we really are

And oft will still shine through

If the physical is marred.

 

The Bible speaks of one

In the epistle of James,

Located at James 1:24 to be exact:

Go there to see its claim.

 

 

For he beholds himself,

And goes his way,

And straightway forgets

What manner of man he was.

 

The mirror to be used

Is the mirror of God’s Word,

It is the perfect law of liberty

To which James referred.

 

 

 

So, two mirror images:

The physical and spiritual

And compared to one another

The physical is minimal.

 

We set much more store

By that which is physical

But while the spiritual is at the core

The physical is superficial.

 

 

 

It is very unfortunate

That looks hold more sway

But expect what is truly within

To shine through one day.

 

If then it is positive

That will be great

But if then it is otherwise

That one will be fake.

 

 

 

So, let’s be sober-minded

When we look in the mirror

And let the true reflection therein

Drive purest endeavor.

 

Stewart Russell © January 23, 2025