Photo and Commentary ©2026 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, June 7, 2026
I turned my back on our big bathroom mirror and held up my hand mirror to see what the back of my head looked like, to see if my hair needed more curling and coaxing into place before I headed out of the house.
At least that was my intent. But as I raised my hand I realized I was not holding my mirror. Much to my embarrassment, I felt instead the familiar heft of my cellphone. Quickly exchanging it for my mirror, I remembered sheepishly that this was not the first time I’d done this.
As is my wont, I’ve been mulling over the mirror mix-up. I wonder if my cellphone actually is a mirror for me? It certainly reflects what I pay attention to, and how I spend my time. Many of my apps are eager to give me an accounting of my engagement with them, whether or not I’ve asked for such personal, and at times slightly incriminating, information!
Turning from this revealing aspect of my phone, I thought about the mirrors mentioned in the Bible. Two passages immediately stood up and called for my attention.
The first calls for action:
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it — not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it — they will be blessed in what they do. (James 1:22-25 NIV)
That’s a challenge for the week ahead, with the promise of a blessing.
The second Biblical mirror mention that came to mind is in the conclusion of one of the most quoted chapters in the New Testament. It’s a well-loved chapter, because it’s all about love. The apostle Paul clearly and poetically describes how love does and does not behave. Read those verses in I Corinthians 13, and you will have another challenge for the week ahead! And you will also have this wonderful promise to look forward to:
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (I Corinthians 13:12)
As we walk into this brand-new week, whatever our circumstances, we walk as God’s own children, fully known and fully loved.