Sunday, June 30, 2013

Sacrifice Shines


      The early morning light awakens me. I turn to prayer. Time passes, but the natural golden glow of morning is missing. Something is strange. 

      Finger finds phone: 1:47. No wonder. I drop to my knees before the window which illuminates my room. What I find is obviously not the ruler of the day, but that of night. A halo of brilliant light, hemmed with pastels, encircles the glowing sphere, full and beautiful. I gaze in admiration for the Creator of it all. 

      All of a sudden, my eyes see something beyond the circle of light. Beams pierce through the dark of night in a veritable cross-roads of light. The giant reflector is not only surrounded by a circular glow, but in the center of a cross of light. The lines are distinct. I blink, but it’s still there. My gaze continues. 

Gentle voice: When you behold Me with your full face -just as the moon is full-, that is when I am reflected the best in your countenance. When you are on the cross, that is when your life shines the brightest of the cross.

“On the cross? ...we’re supposed to pick up our cross and follow You.”  We wouldn’t be on the cross then, right?

Again: Did you expect to take the cross and never die? What is the ultimate end of crucifixion?

Thoughts swirl. The darkness of death begets the brilliance of birth. The Prince of life took His cross to the place of death. A cross borne after Him has but one end. 

Quietly: Sacrifice shines. If you want to glow like the sun, stay in the center of the cross. 


9 comments:

  1. Mmm… Powerful reminder, Lauralea. Thank you!

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  2. Amen, and God bless you Lauralea

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  3. Good lesson to remember! Also, nice to know that midnight mornings syndrome runs in the family! :P

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    1. Inherited, eh? :P The middle of day on the other side of the world could be such a profitable time for reflection, were it not for the deficit in sleep such reflection precipitates!

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