Our New Mirror | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 3, 1866

Our New Mirror.

We had kept house sometime and had a fair complement of looking-glasses. We thought them as true and well mounted as our neighbors—had no thoughts of getting more at present. But father said we should have another mirror, and with the word came the thing. It was accepted thankfully, but with no particular idea of using it much.

I was not in the habit of spending much time before glasses, and so often passed and repassed it and spent my hours in the room with it, without observing its reflective power. But I chanced one day to be sitting before it, thinking of anything but myself, when it threw full in my face a hasty word that had just escaped from my lips. "Well, that's something new," said I; "I guess I must look out what I say; what kind of a mirror is this?"

Something soon called me away and my discovery passed from my mind. But again of a morning I happened to move it a little roughly in a fit of impatience, when lo! as I looked in it, it shot out anger bright and blazing. It startled me! "What have I here?" "Whoever heard of such a mirror?" "There's some secret about it. My father must have had an object. I must not forget this." And yet I did forget it; and soon it showed me a rudeness of manner again—a little vanity of dress—a forgetfulness of prayer—the folly of unnecessary fatigue—trifling words on the Sabbath, an unkind speech of a neighbor.

"O father, who would have imagined it?" cried I. "Must I walk so carefully or see all my follies reflected back to me, and perhaps made manifold?" Yet I learned to love the mirror. In fact all our others were forgotten beside it. For I soon found also that other things and better were shown there as well. That my smile was there, was not strange. I had seen it in other mirrors often. But it had a new sweetness here, it was not vain to say so.

I saw my love there every day. It beamed back and filled my eyes, I was grateful. I saw the gift and graces of the mind and heart I loved the best, yielded there more and more distinctly. I was proud. I had often prayed before it and it had echoed the sound of my words, but one calm evening I thought I saw that it prayed, and ere many weeks passed it did indeed reflect our own love of Jesus. There is no mirror like a child.—Sel.