Sister Doreen’s Reflections
“Just as water reflects one’s face, the heart reflects one’s true self” (Proverbs 27:19 Inclusive Bible Translation)
When I was pondering and keeping my own kind of journal years ago during the period of my Heart Meditations I wrote about the mirror of the heart as a kind of summing up of those meditations in answer to the question ‘how does the heart function as a mirror?’ I found it interesting then to note that when you look into a mirror, you see things in the opposite or reverse mode. I noticed also that ambulances are named backwards on the vehicle so that in the mirror the word is seen right-faced spelled properly for people to see. I spent some time pondering a crystal, and how its many facets mirror and bring together so many reflections of whatever is around it. When thinking of a mirror what you see is what you get! We see the clarity with which so many aspects of our world, ourselves, and others come to us, without any sentimental or interpreted intonations. This has the power to bring clarity to our awareness.
One of the treasures I found was a renewed understanding of the heart as a mirror that seeks awareness, this is the central focus: heightened awareness. The heart can become a many-faceted mirror in which we may look for deeper understanding of the human paradox. Looking back, I can see that the heart as a mirror of self-reflection has throughout my life also helped me to focus on the concept of duality: the physical and spiritual self, the way I perceive myself and the world around me, the good and the evil, the light and the darkness, life and death. In my heart meditation I pondered the fact that our journey with God is not pure detachment or pure attachment, it is a dance between the two. I saw another way of seeing this reality as the desert and the city. Jesus moves back and forth between desert and city. In the city, Jesus sometimes feels a loss of perspective, love and being centered and must go out to the deserted place to see the real again. Jesus alone in the desert finds the passionate love of God leads back to the pain of the city. I felt this tension, I think we all find this tension throughout our lives – this middle way between flight and fight: it is often called the contemplative stance. One of the gifts of seeing the heart as a mirror is that it helps us to see reality, and the pain of the world, but holds this until it transforms them, knowing that we are all complicit in both the evil and the holiness of life. If we can stand in this third spacious way, neither fighting nor fleeing, we are I believe in the place of grace out of which newness comes. Looking back, I have seen that creativity comes from a contemplative stance towards reality, life. We can, you and I, do a new thing for the world. It is the way of wisdom, albeit a lonely and perhaps a narrow path, because it is counter-cultural, as almost everybody takes the other two ways: flight or fight. I see today how vital it is that we use the mirror of the heart to journey with the gifts that have been received with an open, listening, waiting, searching, seeing, attentive, broken and new heart. God has an unlimited capacity for birthing new possibilities and has offered the gifts of vulnerability, obedience, patience, humility, hope, encouragement, trust, reconciliation, and awareness on this journey through the wilderness.
Face to face with a creativity that is full of paradoxes, it is easy for me to feel at one with the shining stars and all that appears good and appeals to me. It is quite another thing to feel at one with an angry person and what appears not good and does not appeal to me. It is very difficult to see in the mirror of the heart that dance with God in what repulses, divides, alienates, tests, or challenges me. In the mirror of the heart God is in the paradoxes – in the messes of our world and our own lives. As I take up these heart meditations, I know how important it is that we are being invited, challenged, to live compassionately, to look deeply and keenly to see an implicit relationship hidden beneath what I find difficult. In fact, I believe we are being offered a tremendous gift, the gift of tasting the exquisite beauty of the cosmos and in the midst of that beauty to hear the groan of suffering that arises from our wounded earth. It is the gift of soul-tending and planet-tending brought about through the understanding and appreciation of the mystery of life and the inherent goodness in ourselves and in all of creation.
The truth of the spiritual life is that you and I, all of us, every person, are always the image of God. “Let us create humankind in our own image and likeness” … and over us God has said “it is good, very good”. The human heart is like a mirror in which the image of God is reflected. Journeying through the Heart Meditations and looking backwards now through my own life experiences over the years, I know that the mirror of my heart gets covered in dirt and grime from time to time. This renewed musing of my heart journey opens for me the challenge to keep polishing the mirror of my heart. To face the dirt and grime, the sludge that often builds up in life, and do something about it. I find I need to go to this place from time to time and do the work. It is hard work, but it opens the door to the guidance, creativity, and inspiration of God in my life. I know I need to keep on asking ‘how is my heart today?’ ‘Have I polished it enough with my actions, or has my ego darkened it again?’ The way in which we clean the mirror of our hearts by letting go of all the things which are covering the reflective surface of our hearts is always done knowing that the light of God is always shining on us, falling upon our hearts without ceasing, always, and in all circumstances and seasons of our life.
It is Julian of Norwich who reminds us that: “Joy and sorrow are both from God. For those who will not permit themselves to feel their sorrow cannot allow themselves to feel anything else – not the sweet vulnerability of love, nor the tender strivings of hope, nor the leap into darkness we call faith. God wishes us to know that he keeps us safe all the time, in joy and in sorrow, and that he loves us as much in sorrow as in joy. God gives joy freely as it pleases him, and sometimes he allows us to be in sorrow, and both come from his love. For it is God’s will that we do all in our power to preserve our joy, for joy lasts forever and sorrow is passing. … For until we take our sorrow gently by the hand and befriend it, it remains a bitter foe. And there are other foes – searing bolts of anger, soul-shaking winds of guilt, dark, heavy clouds of depression. They too must be taken gently by the hand and made a friend. There is an end to the season of storms. Blue skies and birdsong, fresh green growth and a deep sense of peace herald a new season of acceptance. But it will not be hurried, any more than the first shoots of spring can be coaxed from the ground in a January blizzard. Before peace dawns, we must turn our faces into the gales and face them squarely. We must learn to pray from feelings we are ashamed of and from no-feeling, or God cannot hear us. For God only hears an honest voice.”
I am reminded again that the heart as a mirror seeks awareness, this is its central focus: heightened awareness. It becomes a many-faceted mirror in which we may look for deeper understanding of the human paradox. From a website called Revelations in Writing” I found a simple but meaningful prayer that fit the longing in my own heart to be a reflection of God.
“May what we reflect, from the inside out.
Be a heart of love, spread kindness about.
For all that we do, speaks louder than words.
Each time we give grace, Love’s goodness is heard.
In all that we say, may our hearts reflect God’s loving ways.”
(https://revelationsinwriting.wordpress.come/2018/10/04/the -mirror-of-the-heart/)
The following is an article from the Country Cowboy Church Facebook page printed May 12, 2020 for your interest.
“50 Kinds of Hearts In The Bible”
1. Broken Heart ——— Psalms 34:18, 51:17, 69:20
2. Contrite Heart ——— Psalms 51:17
3. Grieved ——— Genesis 6:6, Psalms 73:21
4. Willing ——— Exodus 25:2, 35:5,29
5. Discouraged Heart ——— Numbers 32:7-9, Deuteronomy 1:28
6. Obstinate ——— Deuteronomy 2:30
7. Proud Heart ——— Deuteronomy 8:14, Psalms 101:5, Ezekiel 28:5,17
8. Wicked Heart ——— Deuteronomy 15:9, Proverbs 6:14,18, Jeremiah 4:14-18
9. Trembling Heart ——— Deuteronomy 28:65, Isaiah 66:2
10.Perfect Heart ——— 1 Kings 8:61, 1 Chronicles 29:9
11.Double Heart ——— 1 Chronicles 12:33, James 4:8
12.Tender Heart ——— 2 Kings 22:19, 2 Chronicles 34:27, Ephesians 4:32
13.Soft Heart ——— 1 Samuel 24:5, Job 23:16
14.Pure Heart ——— Psalms 24:4, Matthew 5:8, 1 Peter 1:22
15.Upright Heart ——— Psalms 32:11, 36:10, 64:10, 97:11
16.Clean Heart ——— Psalms 51:10, 73:1, Proverbs 20:9
17.Fixed heart ——— Psalms 57:7, 112:7
18.Subtle Heart ——— Proverbs 7:10
19.Froward or Perverse ——— Proverbs 11:20,12:8
20.Wise Heart ——— Exodus 28:3,35:25, Proverbs 10:8, 11:29
21.Merry Heart ——— 2 Chronicles 7:10, Proverbs 15:13-15, 17:22
22.Sorrowful Heart ——— Proverbs 14:13, 15:13
23.Haughty Heart ——— Proverbs 18:12, Jeremiah 48:29
24.Fretting Heart ——— Proverbs 19:3, 24:19, Psalms 37:1-8
25.Heavy Heart ——— Proverbs 25:20, 31:6
26.Unsearchable Heart ——— Proverbs 25:3, Psalms 64:6
27.Despiteful Heart ——— Ezekiel 25:15, Romans 1:30
28.Bitter Heart ——— Ezekiel 27:31, Hebrews 12:15, James 3:14
29.New Heart ——— Ezekiel 18:31, 36:26, 2 Corinthians 5:17-18
30.Stoney Heart ——— Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26
31.Flesh Heart ——— Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26
32.Uncircumcised Heart ——— Ezekiel 44:7, Jeremiah 9:26, Acts 7:51
33.Meek and Lowly ——— Matthew 11:29
34.Honest and Good ——— Luke 8:15
35.Overcharged heart——— Luke 21:34
36.Troubled Heart ——— John 14:1-3, 27
37.Single Heart ——— Ephesians 6:5, Acts 2:46
38.Foolish and Darkened ——— Romans 1:21
39.Impenitent Heart ——— Romans 1:21, 2:5
40.Circumcised ——— Romans 2:29, Philippians 3:3
41.Evil Heart ——— Jeremiah 3:17,7:24,11:8,16:12, Hebrews 3:12
42.True Heart ——— Hebrews 10:22, Matthew 22:16
43.Melted Heart ——— Joshua 2:11, 5:1, 7:5, 14:8
44.Deceitful Heart ——— Jeremiah 14:14, 17:9, Mark 7:21-23
45.Hard Heart ——— Deuteronomy 15:17, Psalms 95:8, Hebrews 3:8
46.Whorish Heart ——— Ezekiel 6:9, Hosea 4:12, 9:1
47.Mischievous Heart ——— Proverbs 28:14, 22:15, Romans 1:21
48.Diabolical Heart ——— John 13:2, Acts 5:3
49.Covetous Heart ——— Jeremiah 22:17, 2 Peter
50.Compassionate Heart ——— Psalms 55:4, Jeremiah 4:19
