Keep Your Shine

If you’ve ever stood before The Bean in Chicago — that great, gleaming mirror of steel in Millennium Park — you know how breathtaking it is. You can’t help but be amazed at how it reflects everything around it — the skyline, the clouds drifting above, the people walking beneath. It’s so bright, so clear, so perfect.

But what most people don’t realize is that it doesn’t stay that way on its own. Every morning, workers come to clean it. They remove the fingerprints, the dust, the smudges that gather through the day. Because if they didn’t, that beautiful shine would fade, and that mirror would stop reflecting the way it was meant to.

Our souls are much the same. God created us to reflect His light — His love, His peace, His goodness. We were made to be mirrors of His glory in this world. But as we go through life, the “fingerprints” of experience leave their marks. Worry dulls our shine. Anger leaves smudges. Fear and guilt cloud the surface of our spirit. And slowly, the reflection of God’s presence becomes less visible through us.

Here is the hope we hold onto: God never stops polishing our hearts. Every new morning, His grace is ready to cleanse and renew you. When you pray, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (Psalm 51:2), and when you choose forgiveness over resentment, gratitude over complaint, and lift your thoughts toward God, you allow Him to clear away what doesn’t belong. In those moments, your heart is saying, “Lord, make me shine again.”

And sometimes the polishing comes through moments we did not choose. There are seasons when life applies pressure, when challenges rub against us with a friction we would rather avoid. But even in those moments, God is refining you. A mirror becomes radiant because it has been carefully, lovingly polished. A soul becomes radiant when grace works gently but steadily through every circumstance, even the difficult ones.

So, let God do His work. Don’t resist the polishing hand of your Maker. Because when the cleansing is done, your heart becomes a clear reflection once more. Others begin to see God’s beauty in you — His patience, His compassion, His strength. And like The Bean in the sunlight, your life will mirror heaven’s light for all to see.