The light and your beating heart

Iwaited in the car as Jerry made one more trip inside before we left for churchon a recent Sunday (one of us often must make another trip inside to fetchsomething we forgot before we go anywhere. LOL). I looked down for a moment andmy gaze caught on sunlight dancing around a metal pendant I wore on a longchain. I wondered why the light moved as it did because I was sitting still.But then I realized the pendant moved with every beat of my heart catching theearly morning rays and dispersing them around the filigreed pendant.

I’mnot sure I can explain why I was so moved by that experience, but it may havesomething to do with seeing the effect of my own heart beating and the beautyof the light as it did. And as I pondered the moment, I was reminded of agreater truth.

Aslong as our heart is beating, we can reflect the light of Jesus for others. Nomatter where we go, no matter what we do, we are his people. Sometimes in thenatural, we come across situations where it seems God is far away, but he isn’t.We are still his instrument to reflect the glory of Himself.

Earlyin my career during the ten years I was a buyer, I entered a large showroom atthe top of one of the tallest buildings in New York City. A colleague commentedon the marble floors and wondered about the engineering it took to accommodate theweight in a space that size at that height. The decor was elegant times ten.And the clothes were some of the most sophisticated I had ever seen. When Istepped to the exterior glass walls, the view included the Statue of Libertyand New York Harbor easily seen that morning on a cloudless day. Mysurroundings that day led me to write in my book, Faith in the FashionDistrict, “I had this profound conviction deep in my heart that my lifecould not be wrapped around these outward things but absolutely must becentered on God and His desires for my life.”

Therewas something else about that environment that, despite the amazing view that day, evoked something like sadness inme, as well. God seemed far away, maybe because of such a focus on what was superficial in that place, and yet I realized that I wasthere for a reason to be his person in a place that seemed devoid of hispresence. It was one of my greatest challenges up to that point to keep that inthe fore front of my mind and to pray for those I encountered.

Isuppose that is a continual challenge for all of us to move through this world rememberingthat we are light bearers for him. To do so, we must hold fast to the words ofJesus, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot behidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, theyput it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the sameway, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds andglorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

Ina much greater way than the light reflected on my pendant, may His light dancein your life, friend.

 

var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-24260977-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();Beverly Varnado's most recent book is In Search of the Painted Bunting, a middle grade historical from Elk Lake Publishing, #1 in new releases in its category. She is also the author of several small town romances from Anaiah Press including her latest, A Season for Everything. All are available at Amazon. To explore the web version of One Ringing Bell, please visit bev-oneringingbell.blogspot.comTo sign up for her newsletter, go to http://eepurl.com/dHNdsX Beverly Varnado copyright 2023