We Are Mirrors of Our Hearts

Isn’t it funny how when my wife motions with her finger around the left side of her mouth while looking at my mouth suggests I have crumbs or other food on the right side of my mouth? We mirror each other.

We are mirrors for each other. And so it is for hearts.

“Just as water reflects the face, so one human heart reflects another.” –Proverbs 27:19 (NRSV). Another version says, “As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.” (TNIV)

One commentator put it this way:

“The heart serves as a mirror... when you look honestly and directly into it, you attain greater knowledge.”[1]

Still another says:

“We need the other [person] to know ourselves; we know the other [person better] by (knowing) ourselves.”[2]

We get to know ourselves and others better by enquiring into the heart, the intent. Proverbs 20:5 (TNIV) says, “The purposes of the human heart are deep waters, but those who have insight [understanding] draw them out.” By looking at behaviour over time, we’re able to gauge or get a glimpse of what is going on for or within both ourselves and others.

By observation and reflection then, we’re able to more fully understand the motives of both ourselves and others. We’re then able to move our relationships to a deeper, less superficial level, provided the other person also wants to.

It is also good to note that as we interact with people, with our hearts (intentions) on display, we affect others’ hearts (their intentions). When we’re generously-hearted, we get back in return, most of the time, generosity.

Conversely, when others are hard-of-heart toward us or others we see, how do we respond? Well, we’re tempted to return in kind aren’t we? Of course, this creates a vicious cycle of cursing, not blessing. We see this all the time in relational conflict.

One thing we ought to trust is our instincts. The old book says, “[H]eed [or establish] the counsel of your own heart, for no one is more faithful to you than it is.” –Sirach 37:13 (NRSV).

Trusting our instincts is learning to trust our hearts.

Copyright © 2008, S. J. Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

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ENDNOTES:
[1] Roland E. Murphy, Proverbs – Word Biblical Commentary (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998), p. 209.
[2] Murphy, Ibid, p. 209. Murphy quotes Alonso Schokel.