Beaming

Photo by Betty Parquette

We all carry a brokenness. Some wound deep down inside, sometimes stifled and smothered for so long we don't even realize we speak through them. Fearful or maybe ashamed, we don't want to bring them to the light. It is precisely those places which our Lord wants to shed light on; to heal us to the core.

Healing doesn't come without scars. The risen Christ Himself carried the scars of His crucifixion. He instructed St.Thomas the Apostle to place his hand in His side and to believe.

Sometimes it seems as if the painful memories are like a dark cloud, always with us. As much as we don't want others to see it, unchecked and left festering it becomes pretty much all people can see of us. When God heals those wounds His love springs forth and shines through them. We are no longer defined by sin and pain but by His mercy and as His love springs forth from our old scars we become something so very beautiful. Others in pain are attracted. They see a person whose been through it and made whole.

The sun in the sky, vital to our survival can not be viewed with the naked eye. Some days are hot and scorching while other days the clouds have blocked out the warmth for so long and we feel desperate to feel the suns rays. But, when the clouds begin to break and the beams shine forth we all stop. We look and it takes our breath away for it's beauty.

Our souls are like those clouds. Some days are heavy with storms while others we're beaten down by the heat of the battle. We can't stand in Gods' presence due to our sins and yet it's precisely where we need to be. How can we get there? How can we bring our neighbor along with us when we carry the burdens of the beam in our eye?

As we expose those old festering wounds to God, and those hard baked hearts of ours begin to heal, His light shines out like those beautiful sunbeams. From the ashes, pure beauty shines forth for all to see.

You who are aching under your cloudy burdens, let God shine from you. Let Him blow those thunder clouds away so you may become a beautiful, billowy sky full of bright clouds and beams. Let Him define you, not by your stormy past but by His mercy and compassion indwelling. Be that light for others that are cowering in their pain and become His beacon of hope for them.

Sunbeam, Sunbeam, let me be a Sunbeam...

Beauty breaking through the smog; Steubenville, OH.