Last weekend as we settled into being home, we started spring cleaning early.  As the boys helped their dad make a campfire, the brush was smoking into the sky.  They all started to call me over to see. 

“Mom look.” 

“I see, there is a lot of smoke”

 “No look.”

            I almost stayed where I was.  I almost continued my raking, only to see the smoke billowing heavily into the air.  But their calls invited me to see from their perspective.  They asked me to come and see what they saw. 

            As I repositioned myself to see, the beams of light were visible streaming through the smoke.  

            On this gorgeous day, I was already enjoying feeling the warm sun on my back.  I had been enjoying its highlights and shadows on my new flower blooms.  Yet now the smoke, the thing that stung my eyes when it blew in my face and took my breath away, allowed me to see the light in a different and beautiful way.

             I could have just focused on the smoke but from this new view, the smoke helped me to see the effect of each beam of the sun more clearly.  My children’s calls to look closer and from another angle invited me to see how the smoke revealed a new beauty in what had been there all along. 

            As we are home and danger looms, we could look at the smoke or we can readjust our view. We can focus on the dark cloud that billows or look through it to see the light that was already shining through. The beauty won’t make the smoke sting any less but I choose to see the beams of light among the smoke.  I choose to see the light that used the contrast of the smoke to be revealed. 

            Sometimes we all need the invitation to take our eyes off the smoke and to look at the light shining through it. So come. Look.

            What I ask from you is to remind me tomorrow.  Remind me when I feel blinded by the smoke.  When the hard and harsh smoke of this situation feels overwhelming, I need someone to remind me to look at how the beams of light are streaming in.  I need the reminder to look and see that God has not changed. I need someone to tell me that God’s love cannot be blocked out and maybe just maybe seeing His love through this challenging time may make the view sweeter and more beautiful.

John 8:12

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”