Deep Reflection

“And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of the Lord is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” [Revelation 21:23]

Have you ever stopped to bear witness to delicate blossoms that punctuate the foliage around town? In my neighborhood we have greenbelts and Lantana’s abound once it warms up each year. Their blossoms are tiny, star-looking tubular flowers that grow as flower clusters in bright, fluorescent colors mixed in the cluster, creating a bicolored effect. If you have not stopped to really look at one lately, I challenge you to do so with any blossom. When I take time to stop and reflect on something as simple and yet beautiful as a Lantana flower cluster, it connects me to God’s creative imagination at work in the world. The simple flower cluster becomes like a light or lamp of God’s glory and if this simple flower cluster that no one else might ever notice can do this what else can? What if like Thomas Merton we could look at each other and say, “They are all walking around shining like the sun?” Of course, none of this possible unless we stop the incessant motion of our lives and the world around us. As the psalmist reminds us, we must be still. “Be still and know that I am God.” May we take the time to be still and notice the glory of God all around us and even within us.

Prayer

Holy God, I confess that I often rush through my days, not taking notice of the glory that abounds around me. Help me to establish a new cadence in my life, where I practice being still so that I can connect more fully to your glory that abounds wherever I may be. Amen.