Wisdom's Radiance

Who is like the wise man?
Who knows the explanation of things?
Wisdom brightens a man’s face
and changes its hard appearance.
-Ecclesiastes 8:1


A white dot.

Small, seemingly insignificant.

It’s in the distance, over the horizon, quietly blinking.

You think it’s a star and settle in to watch the night sky.

But it’s moving.

Slowly, so slowly you don’t pick up on it. As it draws nearer, it grows. The dot becomes the size of a marble, then a baseball, and as it increases in size, it becomes vibrant, intense.

Suddenly, the sky is engulfed with this light. You shield your eyes, and as you do you notice it continues to move in your direction. The light is blazing, and a white hot heat runs over your skin. Your heart hammers, practically pulling out of your chest. You don’t know why, but you long for this light more than you’ve ever craved anything else. There is a rush of warmth swarming through your veins, and that light continues to crawl through the air, shifting lower, lower, until it hovers just above your head.

You raise your eyes to meet this moment. Like a July breeze, the light wraps around your face, kisses your skin and scrambles for your soul. Electricity shoots through you, yet no pain follows. The current calms you, claims you as its own. You are bolder with this branding. And as the illuminating glow reverberates inside, you know at once that your heart has been blackened with a blinded darkness until the light broke through with such force your body is helpless to do anything but surrender to its arrival.

You know, with certainty, that the aching your soul harbored is gone forever, and is now replaced with a golden light exploding around you.

The world sees this radiance upon you and yearns to ignite with the same burning promise.


Prayer:
You are holy. You are the blazing in my breast, the Light that fills my sky. Father, You are wisdom, You are understanding, You reach down for me to know You. Thank You for presenting Your light in my darkness. May I remember what You give to me and be covered in Your beautiful promise of life eternal. Amen.

Fire in My Bones

His word is in my heart like a fire,
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
indeed, I cannot.
-Jeremiah 20:9


My heart needs to burn.

For something. For someone. I need to feel needles pricking my skin, leaving imprints on my soul. I need to be blinded by beauty, drunk on dreams. I need to cling to God’s word like it is the only tree left in a falling forest.

My eyes- they must blaze. Must sweep in every fragment of this unending universe and zoom in on the tiny miracles happening beneath the naked eye.

My hands must shake with sweetness, must roam every wonder and feel their texture beneath my nails.

My feet must flash through feeling, must race to where all I dare hope for comes true. They must carry me quickly to the cross.

I have been summoned. I have tasted desire and crave more. I need my blood to boil in my veins, to bubble and spit heated liquid that overflows in my anatomy, bursts in my bones. I need it to spill into my mind and turn reasoning into rapture. To slip in my skull and crack open the hardness of my stubborn streak, empty out my vanity and fill it with a stream of submission.

I have been awakened to all that howled beneath my indifference. I have been roused, and am ignited by every electric beauty that has been poured into my purpose.

You have released me.


Prayer:
Lord, I want to come alive at the mention of Your name. I want to burn with a consuming fire with Your face imprinted on my heart. I want Your love coursing through me, breaking through barriers and I need You completely taking me over. Overflow me, pour out Your power and beauty in my veins. Let the world see me shine because of Your light streaking through me. Amen.

Freedom

But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it- he will be blessed in what he does.
-James 1:25


We Americans live in a country blessed by God’s riches and mercy. We can make choices on occupations, what we’re having for dinner and even the freedom to speak loosely about friends, family, and those in higher power. Anything we feel like doing or saying, we can, and can get away with it. We live in bounty, in abundance and comfort. And our finite minds tend to focus on how we ourselves got this way- not on the actuality of why we live the way we do.

I know I personally forget about the tiniest of blessings I am given. I take this beautiful country for granted, the freedom to walk out my door and to a car that gets me to my job, which provides income for me to pay my bills. I have a roof over my head and food in my stomach, and I never lack love. But I take it as a right, not a gift. I might not have the same things tomorrow I have today. I may not have a breath left in the morning. I am a blade of grass, swaying in the wind.

There is another freedom I take for granted- freedom from sin. Freedom in Christ. Because He willingly suffered on the cross, for all my wrong doings when He knew no wrong, and gladly traded in His life for mine I am saved. I am no longer a prisoner of principle and slave to sin. I am free. I have power through His penance.

We are blessed by God’s great mercy, His grace and His selfless love. Without His Son to save us from death, we would be bound to eternal separation from the Almighty. And through this amazing sacrifice, we can walk in wisdom and live in life-giving liberty.

Take time to thank those who have served this brave and beautiful country. Enjoy everything this day stands for and never, ever take what we have in America for granted. But also thank God for His greatest gift of all- our spiritual freedom. Without the power of the resurrection, we’d be left in a lonely abyss.


Prayer:
Father, thank You for all You have done for me. My salvation, Your love, the gift of living in eternity with You. Thank You for this beautiful country built upon Your foundation. Let us continue to seek after You and live our lives according to Your great and perfect will. Amen.