In a mirror, darkly

A friend wrote yesterday to ask if I knew of any wedding photographers on Orcas Island; her daughter will be marrying there next summer. I had to say no; it's been a long time since I knew any photographers there.

But it did get me to thinking about weddings. I haven't been to a wedding in years, but back when we were going to lots of them there was always a good chance that someone would read that passage from I Corinthians:13 -- you know, the one about love: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud..."

So when I pulled up this image today I thought immediately about another line from that passage: "For now we see in a mirror, darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I am fully known."

I always found that passage confusing and obscure. Because it's hard to know exactly what it's saying, just as it's hard to know exactly what this image is, because the reflection is always moving and hard to pin down. In the same way it's hard to really know ourselves, because the mind on which the soul is reflected is always moving.

I'd always thought that line about the mirror meant we wouldn't understand anything clearly until we die. But what if it means -- as so many other biblical passages now seem to mean -- that eternity, God, the soul could all be here and now if we could just learn to be both still and fully present?

God already fully knows us, but we just get glimpses of ourselves between the thought waves. But perhaps as those waves subside the reflection of the soul, of God within us, will become increasingly clear?

Who knows; it's certainly a possibility...

Oh, well, gotta run: I have another plane to catch!