In the middle of winter, particularly in the morning or evenings on the very coldest of days, every ray of sunshine coming at us from obique angles, feels so warm and good as it alights on us.
These gentle light rays surprise us as especially toasty and brilliant when they pierce through the dullness and sullenness of this frosty time of year.
This high contrast between the brightness of the ray and the surrounding dimness makes our encounter with each one a small delight and a special moment as we really take time to focus on it and to allow ourselves to feel it.
That moment of delicious delight is a little picture of how it can be when the light of God enters into the spiritually cold, dull world we find ourselves enduring as we move through the harder seasons of our lifelong journey.
Jesus, the Light of the World, by His Spirit, can suddenly pour His light and life, warmth and love into the dimmest existence, touching us and raising our eyes to try to peer more directly and expectantly toward our Father God, the true Father of lights, from whom all goodness is already flowing out to us.
When these direct rays of divine light break into the gloom of our natural environment, we begin to see in the brilliance of this intense light all the particles of dust and dirt that were always there within each of us, kept hidden by the shadows created by our own inate human abilities to stay in denial and by our heart's own amazing self-deception.
The beauty and ardor of God's care and concern for every one of us ultimately overpowers the bitterness of the initial impact made by this penetrating new awareness of our selfmade drabness and squalor.
In the effulgence of His divine love and grace poured out on us in these precious moments, we can then be made beautiful even with all of our many imperfections, just as the floating dust in the intense beam of sunlight becomes illuminated as it dances in the convection-driven air currents, created and driven by the warm ray breaking through our murky, cold atmosphere.
Each time we are illuminated in this way, we are energized and enabled to begin to dance with joy in the love and acceptance of our Light of the world, Jesus, because of the powerful understanding that we are not just being enlightened in that brief moment alone.
We are actually being progressively transformed throughout our lifetime, by each and every experience we have as the renewing and envigorating Presence of the Spirit of the Lord comes once again into our hearts, so that we become more and more Jesus' lights set on a hilltop, brightening this sin darkened world with the blinding brilliance of His love!
Neil Uniacke, Executive Director
No comments:
Post a Comment