The town of Rjukan, Norway, is located deep in a valley and gets no sunshine from September through March. It must be a tough thing to live that long without seeing the sun. The town has placed large mirrors on the mountains above in order to reflect light into the town. This winter Rjukan will have reflected sunshine light! The mirrors are making the light possible.
Robert Fulghum writes of how he once asked a Greek philosopher and teacher the question, “What is the meaning of life?” Fulghum says that the philosopher responded, “I will answer your question.” Then taking his wallet out of his hip pocket, he fished into it and brought out a very small, round mirror about the size of a quarter.
Then he said, “When I was a small child during the war we were very poor and we lived in a remote village. One day on the road I found several broken pieces of a mirror from a wrecked German motorcycle. I tried to find all the pieces and put them together but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest piece. This one.”
“By scratching it on a stone I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would not shine – in deep holes and crevices and dark closets. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places I could find.”
I kept the little mirror, and I went about my growing up I would take it out in idle moments and continue the challenge of the game. As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child’s game but a metaphor for what I might do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of the light. But light – truth, understanding, knowledge – is there, and it will only shine in many dark places if I reflect it.”
He further said, “I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know…I can reflect light into the dark places of this world – into the black places in the hearts of men – and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of life.”
Darkness is dangerous. Where there is darkness, we cannot see. In the darkness, we stumble over things; we bump into things; we cannot avoid hitting things – it is easy to get hurt. Light becomes essential.
Jesus said that He is the light of the world. He also said that you and I can be light to the world. We are the mirrors that reflect the light from the Son. This Sonshine that we reflect can penetrate the deepest darkness of the world. Reflected Sonlight is the best light in the world.
The mirror is very important in reflecting the light. A mirror can reflect light in such a way that it preserves much of its original quality, but it is influenced by its contact with the mirror. Other objects that reflect light do not preserve much of the original wave signal and often diffuse the reflected light.
Sonshine needs to be reflected to a dark world. You and I are the mirrors that can do that. The mirror both receives and sends the light beams. There is no darkness in the world that cannot be penetrated by the Sonshine.
Reflecting Sonshine light is the key to the meaning of life!
