a blameless soul needs no concealers.

I sit at my vanity table in front of my bedroom window. I'm getting ready for the day.  My face is freshly washed, my contacts are in.  I reach for the concealer and the mascara.  I catch a glimpse of myself in my mirror and stop.  The bright morning sunlight pours through my window and splashes across my face.  There in the sunlight, every blemish, every imperfection is brought to light.  I stop.  I think about my desire to walk in and be filled with Light.  All Light, no darkness.

I sit in the chair I laughingly refer to as my 'throne', in my room in the quiet morning.  I'm getting ready for the day.  I look into the mirror of God's Word and see the true reflection of my soul and intents of the heart.  I see my blemishes and my imperfections reflected there.  Then, sometimes, I reach for the concealer: for my bad attitude regarding a certain matter, I put on silence, hoping it won't leak through.  For my impatience, I put on, well, usually silence again, hoping my frustration doesn't show to any onlookers.  For my unkindness, I hate it if my family sees it sometimes, but I certainly don't want anyone else to see it- I might conceal an ungracious heart with a smile in front of strangers.  But, when the Light shines bright and unforgiving, it exposes all my heart, all the blemishes.

I turn back to my physical appearance; it's a sad thing that I won't be blemishless on this side of heaven, I think to myself.  I reach again for the concealer.  But there is no reason I should not strive to be blameless of spirit.

Blameless... it's a word you don't hear much in this day and age.  No one really wants to grow up and be blameless.  Savvy, clever, powerful, influential, perhaps, but you rarely hear aspirations to be blameless, pure, wholesome, righteous, holy, sober.  

Another day, I sit on my big chair again, getting ready for the day.  I read my Bible... I wander around in II Peter.  I land at a passage from chapter three...

But, beloved, do not forget this one thing; that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.  The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.


Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?


Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 


Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.

If we didn't think Christ was coming at all, it might be important to concentrate on being clever and getting ahead of the next guy; but since we do, "what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God...?"

Time is short; it's the invisible that matters, I remind myself so many times a day.  Life can be dark; but Christ is Light and always Victor in the end. Since the end will be sooner rather than later, we should look forward to the Great Victory of His return, being diligent 'to be found by Him in Peace, without spot and blameless.'

That He (Jesus) might sanctify and cleanse it (the church) with the washing of the water of the Word.  That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it would be holy and without blemish.  (Eph. 5:26,27)

A blameless soul needs no concealers.

I like to write notes to myself, if you haven't noticed.  I keep this one by my vanity table to help me remember that nothing is hidden from the Light.

Dance to the Light

I'm so in love with light these days.  Partly due to my prayer for this year, that I would be filled with Light.  Partly due to the fact that my photographer sister, Rebecca, has helped me to admire various kinds of light.  Partly due to the fact that I have been noticing how much Light is spoken of in the Bible.  So much so, that I looked up the original Greek word to see what it meant in the original text.  It means what I thought it did:  

luminousness
{in the widest application, natural or artificial, abstract or concrete, literal or figurative}
[from an obsolete phao "to shine or make manifest" (especially by rays)]

I've started taking time during my morning devotions to ask the Lord to show me any darkness of my heart; He does, when something needs to be pointed out, and it is good.

My baby sister, Rebecca, (who is 17!) and I were recently at an outdoor performance in Big City... we didn't set out to attend originally, but circumstances brought us nearby, and so we stopped.  Becs and I love having random adventures in Big City and we both have a deep appreciation for artistic things. It was a performance by a local dance company; they were quite good.  I don't like most modern dancing for a number of reasons, but this was unique and refreshing and beautiful.  My favorite dance was one where five young women in colorful fluid dresses all danced around, and with, several globes of light that were raised and lowered by invisible wires.  At one point in the dance, the music stopped.  All the dancers but one remained perfectly still.  The one moving dancer spent several minutes just dancing in the silence around the lights as if there were some magical quality in the light that only she could see or hear.  All was perfectly silent for a few minutes under the summer twilight sky (well, as silent as a large crowd of Texans in the middle of a huge city can be). 

Becs (who is a ballerina herself) thought this silence a bit odd, so she leaned over and whispered, "why'd they turn off the music?"  I softly chuckled and answered that  I didn't know... "I guess she doesn't need music, she's just dancing to the light."  My own words struck me (always interesting when that happens)... isn't that what I'm supposed to be doing, I thought?  Tuning out the world's music and not just walking in the light, but better yet, dancing to and in the Light? 

Soon enough, the music started back again and all the dancers were back in motion.  But the lone dancer who danced only to only the light left an impression on me... not so much the dance itself, but the symbolism. 

There's a little note on my dresser now, a small piece of white paper where I'd printed "Dance to the Light" that night after I got home.  It reminds me not to drudge through life, or entertain darkness, but most of all to be in the Light and full of Light... to dance to the ebb, flow, joy, rhythm and light of Jesus.  JESUS is the LIGHT of the world, and the Light of me.   What a blessing.

"In Him was life, and the light was the light of men."  (Jn. 1:4)