Mirror image brings God to mind.

Byline: FROM HEART TO HEART By Diane Page For The Register-Guard

This photograph of my husband, Chris, and our nieces Allison and Karen and nephew Bryce, is one of my favorites.

It reminds me not only of the children's first kayak experience on North Tenmile Lake, but also of a timeless truth about the relationship of God to his creation.

What I particularly like about this picture is the crisp, clear image of the kayak and its passengers on the water.

Even if you turn the picture upside down it looks exactly the same as it does right side up. It's a mirror image or reflection.

Because it is a reflection, the image in the lake cannot change or differ from the kayak. It cannot have two passengers instead of four nor become a sailboat or glide on ocean waves past palm trees. The mirror image must resemble the original in every detail because it is one with it.

In the teachings of Christian Science this concept of reflection is frequently used to illustrate the relation of God and man - both male and female described in the Bible as created "in His image and likeness." Christian Science teaches that just like the reflection of the kayak on the water, we are the reflection - the image and likeness - of God, and can only be what God is causing us to be: that is, good, like God.

Because God is spirit our likeness to God is not in a material likeness, but, rather, in the reflection of the qualities of spirit that are described by Saint Paul as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, fidelity, tolerance and self-control" (Galatians 5:22,23). In her book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science, puts it this way: "Man is the idea of Spirit; he reflects the beatific presence, illuming the universe with light."

This law of reflection is a law of healing to the discords of human experience because discords, such as relationship problems, financial lack, illness, stress, injury and discontent are not in or of God. Discords of any kind are not reflections of God's creation, but deflections or distortions of it.

I've seen this law of reflection bring healing in my own experience. Discords of all sorts, including employment challenges, an unwanted growth on my face, family conflicts and money problems have lifted through prayer that affirms that since discords are not of God, they cannot be in God's reflection, that is, in God's creation, which includes me.

So when I look at this picture I see not only the reflection in the water, but also, in the children's joy and innocence and in my husband's love and patience, the very image of God who "saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good."

Diane Page is a member of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Eugene. This column is coordinated by Two Rivers Interfaith Ministries, a network of more than 35 spiritual traditions in the Eugene-Springfield area. For details, call 344-5693 or visit www.interfaitheugene.org.

CAPTION(S):

This photo of the writer's husband, nieces and nephew illustrates the frequently used concept of reflection in the teachings of Christian Science, Diane Page says.