Where does all the light in this room come from? Yes, from the sun (or from a lamp, or other light, if it is night). Here is a pretty little mirror. If it wants the light, how must I turn it? Yes, toward the sun. And here is another mirror. If I want to get light from it, what must I do? That’s right; I must turn the first mirror on it.
Suppose there are two girls, Mary and Lucy, who do not love each other. How can we get them to loving each other? Well, it is just as it was with the mirrors.
All the love in the world comes from God, just as all the light in this room comes from God’s sun. God put it into your father’s heart, and your mother’s heart, to love you, and there is no love in all this world that God did not inspire. You know what that beautiful text says, “God is love.” Say it together: “God is love.”
Now our hearts are just like little mirrors. If we turn them toward ugly things, they reflect ugly things. See how this mirror reflects an ugly image. So will our hearts. But if we turn them toward God’s love, they will reflect that just as readily.
And now go back to Mary and Lucy, the two girls who do not love each other. How can it be helped? Easily enough. Just let one of them—all the better if it is both of them—turn her heart toward God, and pray him to send his love to her, and he will do it. And then let her go to her friend, and reflect on her God’s beautiful love, and her friend will reflect it back; she can hardly help it. Mary and Lucy will love each other.
There is just one way of preventing this wonderful reflection of love, and that is—what do you think? Why, the same way that it is with mirrors. Here is an old, cracked, worn-out mirror. You cannot see your face in it. It reflects the sunlight very poorly indeed. That is the way Mary and Lucy will grow, if they do not take good care of their hearts.
And then, here is a great black cloth. I will throw it over the mirror and put in the brightest sunlight I can find. You see, it does not reflect a single ray. Do you know what the black cloth is, that people sometimes throw over these heart-mirrors we have been talking about? That dark cloth is called hate, and when it is thrown over our heart not a bit of God’s beautiful love can we reflect, no matter how brightly it shines. O, let us keep that ugly black cloth away from our hearts.