Beauty in the Reflection

       Last night was fireworks night in the city.  For the first time I had the opportunity to enjoy them from a high rise, twenty seven stories up!  My friend pointed out how from our angle the colourful fireworks were reflecting off the windows of the 39 to 73 storied Renaissance Center.  After that, it was watching the reflections that most captured my attention.

       Now, the windows of the buildings are divided into sections, which means you don’t see the reflections fully all the way down the buildings, rather, the lights seem to quickly twinkle as they fall.  So while the colours exploded in front of me bursting out into varied shapes, the reflected lights in the windows twinkled quickly from the top down.  It was beautiful to behold such a wondrous thing.

       As children of God, we are not the Light.  Jesus is the Light of the world (John 8:12) and the Lord enlightens our darkness (Ps. 18:28).  If we follow the Lord as He wants us to (Lk. 9:23) we begin to imitate Him (1Cor. 11:1) and His light will shine off of us (or in us) into the dark world, and that is how we become His lights in the world (Mt. 5:14).  Just as the reflecting lights drew my attention for their beauty and interesting display, so we shall draw attention to God, bringing glory to Him when people see His light reflecting in us.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.  Mt. 5:16

       And if you are worried about your imperfections and failures, remember how I said the reflected lights were more interesting because of the twinkling effect of the divided windows?  Well, the people around us notice our dark times too, but then it makes their watching of us even more interesting.  They are drawn to see how we respond to the world and troubles around us, and when they see the love and peace of Jesus still strong in us through thick and thin, it will change their lives.  So let’s all clean our windows and stand still in the glorious Light of our Lord, so we can shine!

For ye were sometimes darkness,

but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 

         Eph. 5:8,9