"CAPTURING THE LIGHT", A Christian Contemplation"

CAPTURING THE LIGHT
Shine forth!

A Commentary by Constance Vanides

Not exactly a "Secret Place," my home office serves as my place for prayer to the Father. I close the door, open the blinds to let in the light of a day just dawning. It is there Jesus tells me that God the Father will meet me with the promise of an open reward.

"But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

The first "reward" I am given is to see the first light of day. Clouds that had darkened skies the previous day with rain are now filled with light, reflecting the sun, not quite risen, and streaks of bright lines from who knows where?

The whole scene takes me back to when I first began to paint with watercolors. I would dip my red sable brush into a can of clean water, swish it around, then dip it into the pigments on my palette, mixing the desired colors together. I would deliberately move the loaded brush swiftly onto the textured paper in one stroke. I, too, had captured the light, a reflection of the sun's brightness!

An artist can do this because his touch is under the control of the Master Artist when he allows Him to guide his every move. It takes a lot of "closeted time" with the Father to get to know Him enough to trust Him with your life and actions, let alone a paintbrush filled with water and the right mixture of pigment!

Our whole life should be a reflection of the Son who gave His all, reflecting His love and continuing care for us, to others who need to know Him.

"The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace."

"LORD, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us."

"Restore us, O God of hosts; cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved!"

"They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed."

"GOD be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us. that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations."

"Make Your face shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes."

"Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever."

"Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

"Do all things without murmuring and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,"

"Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses' hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him.

Is it possible that we, like Moses, can spend enough time with God in prayer that our faces will shine like his did when He met God on Mount Sinai? We know Jesus, and have the Holy Spirit to help us!