See but through a glass darkly.

A candle is lit

May my whole being be bright

With Your glory now.

O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet You

As the day rises to meet the sun.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,

As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever, Amen.

You might say, that sounds nice Heather- but what about the verse we just read together from John that the bad thing happens so that the glory of God can be displayed? Hmmmm???? What about that??? I am bringing this up because it was also my question, to myself.

After some reflection, I think it came down to the fact that I, at times, have a distorted definition of glory. I sometimes feel like the godly thing to pray, “Dear God, thanks for this awful thing that happened to me so that you, God, can bask in some sort of wonderful glory that makes you look good but is horrible for me and means that I am in extraordinary pain. Thanks. Amen.” This is not the definition of glory and I don’t think that Jesus wants us to adopt that type of definition.

True glory is something that fills up and blesses everyone. With true glory, everyone feels more loved and more light and more seen. There is a verse in the Old Testament that says the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord like water fills the sea. There is no difference between water and the sea- the sea is water. The world will be filled with a heavenly good where everything is actually GOOD. Everything will be shot through with lightness and laughter and hope. When we run into the heavenly good we have a deep sense of joy.

And when Jesus says glory- He is talking about THIS type of glory- the heavenly good that is actually good for everyone. There is a type of heavenly good that can come out of pain if we let Jesus get involved because otherwise, it’s just plain old pain. And it should not be called anything otherwise. –Heather Voelkel

Restore us, O God of hosts: show the light of Your countenance, and we shall be saved. Psalm 80:7

Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! Place your heart in the figure of the divine substance! And transform your whole being into the image of the Godhead itself through contemplation. –Clare of Assisi

There was no holding back at the cross. The entirety of the Godhead committed itself to that crux of unconditional love.

And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” –Luke 7:40

Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.

Where, except in uncreated light, can the darkness be drowned?

My God whose ways and thoughts are higher than my ways and thoughts.

What I desire: To live before God with true freedom. Freedom centered on the strong knowledge and security of God’s love. His love has set me free.

Restore us, O God of hosts, show me the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved. Psalm 80:7

Seek YAHWEH while He is still to be found, call to Him while He is still near. Let the wicked abandon his way, and the evil one his thoughts. Let him turn back to YAHWEH who will take pity on him, to our God who is rich in forgiveness; for my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways, declares YAHWEH. For the heavens are as high above the earth as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts. Isaiah 55:6-9

So yesterday I was reminded of the His ways are not my ways. Twice really.  First I received an email from the guy on the highway in Spain, the one who searched us out, as we headed up the highest and hardest hill on El Camino, and threw away his crutches to run across the road and thank us for praying for Him. And his understanding is garbled still as he seeks to know more, as is each of our understandings, of He whose thoughts are above our thoughts. But he wanted to tell me once again that he holds that moment in his heart forever, when he came face to face with the love and power of the living God.

And may I never forget that soaring joyous freedom sweeping through my soul that afternoon. Holy, holy, holy.

And Shaun had to wrestle yesterday afternoon with the Living God who has placed eternity in our hearts. It was a simple assignment about Power and Taxes for his economics class, but somehow as I tried to straighten out his garbled logic, once it was all laid out nicely and neatly, it pointed straight to a Presence who calls us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, and mind and our neighbor as ourselves.

May this become a never-forgotten moment of His thoughts are not our thoughts in the story of his life.

He is always both within us and over against us. Our reality is as much from His reality as He, moment by moment projects into us. The deeper the level within ourselves from which our prayer, or any other act, wells up, the more it is His, but not at all less ours. Rather, most ours when most His. –Lewis, Letters to Malcolm

Show me the light of Your countenance today. His love has set me free. 

Prayer: God, you have prepared in peace the path I must follow today. Help me to walk straight on that path. If I speak, remove lies from my lips. If I am hungry, take away from me all complaint. If I have plenty, destroy pride in me. May I go through the day calling on You, You, O LORD, who know no other LORD. Ethiopian Prayer