Mirrored Eyes

Have you ever looked in the mirror, and not recognized the person looking back at you? Have you ever taken the time too look into your own eyes, and wonder what other people see there? A friend once told me to be careful about looking at people. He seemed to think I was too prone to let my soul be visible in my eyes. I never quite understood, but then there are the times, the very rare times, when someone actually meets and holds my gaze. That is when I realize how much can be communicated through those 'windows of the soul.'
Perhaps it's the reflected light of my laptop screen or the wind blowing around the corners of the house outside. Maybe it's just being here, out of the city, up in the hills of mid-Wales. Somehow my eyes in the mirror tonight look different. For a moment there I felt it was past-me looking into the face of future-me, and in that instant, I wondered if this is what people see when they look at me.
Have you ever noticed how the largest changes take place in the most inconspicuous ways? Like Elijah's encounter with God on the mountain: gales, shattered rocks, earthquake and fire roll through our lives, but it is in the silence that follows that the change happens. It is in the gentle whisper that we encounter God. It is the wind across the mountains, the stars playing hide-and-seek behind the rushing clouds, the cat dozing before the dying fire, three quarters of an hour in a quiet swimming pool, a hot cup of tea, an hour sitting in silence and solitude.
And suddenly the person looking out from behind my eyes isn't someone I recognize at all. I see a woman with a broken heart who is eager to love; a sinner who has often failed who, in the grace of God, can succeed; a believer who has lost control of life, beginning to understand that power only comes in that weakness; a young adult with no confidence in self who yet believes that the dreams will come to pass; a heart who knows too well sorrow, pain, doubt, despair and pride, who yet can smile and laugh.
In short, I see a miracle looking back at me. A living testimony to the power of a living God. I could chose to sit in the corner and cry, but why should I? Those eyes aren't only a miracle, they are a promise, and I serve a God who keeps his promises.