Seeing a Clear Reflection of Ourselves

Sue and I are up in Wisconsin this week near the Dells, the state’s version of Disneyland or, perhaps, my own state’s Branson. Like golf, which Mark Twain and others have called “A good walk spoiled,” the Dells (and Branson) are “a beautiful view spoiled.” Anyway, I digress.

It’s mostly closed down for the season here and, in any case, we came to this area not for the cheesy (pun intended) tourist spots or the Midwest’s largest indoor waterpark, but rather to just get away and spend time alone (together). We’re staying just far enough away from the tourist hub that we can imagine what this all looked like before the advent of all-you-can-eat buffets, waterski shows, 81-hole mini golf courses and Las Vegas-like themed hotels.

This morning we took a hike through nearby Mirror Lake State Park. We bought our daily pass and began walking the broad and easy Newport Trail, which snaked into the woods for about a half-mile or so before it gave us our first glimpse of the lake itself. The reflection of the fall foliage and the white-barked beech trees in the crystal clear water brought us up short and pulled us off the trail and down to the shore where we could get a better look. The view left us no doubt as to where Mirror Lake got its name.

“What makes the reflection so clear?” Sue asked. “Is it just because the water is so still?” I didn’t know for sure but assumed that was right. A little research later revealed that the 137-acre lake with steep sandstone sides was “recessed out of the wind and…usually calm and often as glassy-smooth as a mirror.” So there you go.

We continued along the path, mostly under the canopy of the woods but occasionally breaking into the open and allowing us expansive, reflected views of the lake and its shoreline. I snapped a few photos, but these are views to be savored, to be remembered, to be painted by some talented young impressionist willing to sit still long enough to capture the swirling, fluid colors and lines of light and shadow. To capture a true reflection of a true refection of the truth of nature…something like that.

It takes stillness to get a true reflection, just as a camera must be held perfectly still to capture a clear image. And stillness, like quiet and like solitude, is harder and harder to find in our busy lives. So we pull ourselves away from time to time and go on vacation or retreat. We capture stolen moments of time where we can lose track of the clock and immerse ourselves in good music or a good book or quiet conversation with a knowing and known God. Whatever we do with that time, we have the opportunity to emerge on the other side and see ourselves and our lives more clearly, a reflection both of that thing that lies deep within us and the God who created us and calls us by name.