In February 2009, I was already several songs into recording a project when I decided that it needed a few more songs to make it complete. At that time, I was working with college students and having lots of conversations about our identity as Christians, and who God says we are.
One day as I sat at the piano experimenting with some chord progressions, I ended up playing the first few lines of what would become the title track on this project, "Proof in the Mirror".
Just days after this song was finished being written it was recorded. Other musicians were coached on how to add drums, bass, guitars, additional vocals etc. Once I heard all the music together, I knew for sure this would be the title of the album "Proof in the Mirror" and that putting it first would set up every other song that came after it.
The Birth of Proof in the Mirror.
I was meditating on the concept that God is always with us, showing us His truth, and as I started putting words to the melody I was humming, “morning, noon, and night” came to mind. I saw a picture in my mind of Jesus sitting in a rocking chair next to my bed, and as I woke up, he said, “I can’t wait to surprise you!” Within minutes these phrases were scribbled on my notebook:
As you wake, the morning sun fills the room, I can’t wait to surprise you
Every day begins with a moment of truth, you will need it to get through
Let’s spend this day together, I’ll stay right by your side
I liked the pun with the s-u-n filling the room, and the S-o-n filling the room with His presence. The play on words with a “moment of truth” that we will need to get through spoke to me, and the idea that we need to hear and receive truth constantly, and finally, an invitation to walk with Jesus all day.
That felt like verse 1, so I started working on the next two verses with the same music.
God Invites Us to Dance with Him.
Verse 2 goes like this:
Dance with me, Oh will you let me lead? Show you every move to make
Follow me and you will fin‘lly see, the way life is supposed to be
Slide on over, com’on let’s go for a ride
Here in the middle of the day, I pictured Jesus walking across the room asking us to dance. Again, it’s the invitation that God extends to us constantly. In this case Jesus asks if we will let him lead the dance, willing to show us how to live moment by moment.
The invitation to “follow me” is all over the gospels as He chooses his disciples and promises to show them how to live.
The last phrase here, “Slide on over, com’on let’s go for a ride” is the picture I was getting of myself in the driver’s seat of an old green pickup truck that I remember being parked down the block, and Jesus inviting me to slide over to the passenger seat because He wants to drive and take me places I’ve never been. I can trust Him because He loves me and He knows the road.
The Proof Is Revealed.
Several weeks passed before the lyrics for the chorus came to me in a really weird way. I was driving my old 1991 Land Cruiser and looking in the rearview mirror when the Lord dropped the lyrics to the chorus into my heart. It happened so fast! I stopped at the next red light at Mangrove and Vallombrosa and scribbled the words on the only thing that was close by, the top of a small cardboard box. They were perfect, and I never altered them.
Standing there, looking in the mirror,
The proof stares, back at you every time
You wonder, if I still love you
You are looking and waiting for another sign
Every day I show you, what is really true
Where is the proof that I am here with you?
In that instant, I pictured a young college student staring in their bathroom mirror, wondering if God still loves them. The Lord’s response to them was that the proof of His love was staring back at them. Like so many people, they are looking for a sign to prove what is true and if God is still with them.
The verses that anchor these thoughts all start with Genesis 1:26, where God says we are created in His image, and because we are image bearers, what He has created in us is Very Good. This is clear in the creation account. The first proof of His love is in the magnificent way that he created us, that HIS image stares back at us every time we look in the mirror.
The Holy Spirit was given to us to lead us in to all truth (John 16:13). Jesus made it very clear that He will never leave us or forsake us in Matthew 28 and again in Hebrews 13:5.
So, the theme was emerging: the promise of proof from God to our hearts. So many people want proof that God is real, that He loves us, that He is present with us. I believe the greatest proof of our Creator is staring back in the mirror in who He created.
Reminders of His Love.
The 3rd verse flowed out of thinking about my children tossing and turning at night, wrestling in the midst of dreams.
As you’re laying down to sleep tonight, I will remind you
Of all the ways I loved you here today, how my faithfulness shines through
So turn back over, there’s no reason left to hide
In John 14:26 Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will bring to mind the words of Jesus. People have difficulty with times of silence, and it can be a scary place to be alone with your thoughts. But as we drift off to sleep, it’s a perfect time for God to sing His songs over us (Zephaniah 3:17) and remind us where He loved us and was faithful. The last line of this verse (so turn back over, there’s no reason left to hide) is an allusion to the shame first felt in the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve hid themselves from God. So many times when we rehearse our day when falling asleep, we focus on what we did wrong, how we didn’t measure up, how we feel like we are not enough, strong enough, smart enough, fast enough, skilled enough, and the list goes on. But after God sings his love songs over us, there’s no reason left to suffer in shame, but instead, we can rest in his love.
The bridge is often my favorite part of songwriting, and I often have used it from a literary standpoint as a place to state the truth behind the truth, or to ask a pointed question that needs to be pondered. The bridge differs in timing or chord progression, and it will usually lead you back to the chorus. In this song, I wrote the bridge last, as a way for God to give us additional ways that He gives us proof of his love, truth and presence in our lives. It is reminiscent of what God lists in Job 38 as proof that He is Creator and rules over all things.
Where’s the proof that I am here with you
It’s in the smile of a stranger, the laughter of the little children
The beauty of the painted sunset, the smell of the falling rain
Can you see my hand, In every part of my creation?
Even in this music, I am whispering your name
Every day I show you what is really true
This is the proof that I am here with you
God Reveals His Purpose Behind the Music.
He asks, can you see my hand, in every part of my creation? This comes from Psalm 19. God’s magnificent design in creation is a reflection of who He is.
At the end of the song, I changed up the lyrics then from a rhetorical question of “where is the proof that I am here with you” to…
Every day I show you, What is really true
This is the proof, that I am here with you
One of my favorite lines in this song is, “even in this music I am whispering your name,” because it reveals the purpose for the whole music project and is another reference to God singing over us.
The goal for you, for all of us, is to hear me (God) whispering these things to your heart as you listen to these songs.
If you want to hear the complete song as recorded on the album, click here to hear it at the end of my podcast.
This is the second part of the series Music From My Heart. Watch for part 3 next week.
We invite you to join us this week for our Sunday Worship Service in the Dome at 10:00 a.m.
You can also live stream our service on Facebook and YouTube at 10:00 a.m.
