Radiate Beauty

You come early, as the flaming pink sun stretches and yawns long across the unmarked canvas of today and fields of winter white. You warm me.

Face turned to glow, the words spill. "I breathe, here in these front row seats before the wonder of young day rising. I am! How to thank You?"

And You have words of Your own, words I hear in the still places.

“Then smile. Show me how you appreciate today by smiling…. regardless."

Yes, Father. So simple. So hard. Show me how?

Like a thank-you note one wears, I dress for the day, bejeweled with a smile, a flash of gratitude.

You come again with words from a Psalm sent by Dutch Father-in-Law through cyberspace, words he read last night and woke with and feels are for us today, somehow?

And when I read verse 5 of Psalm 34, I knew why You sent that Psalm... Unmistakably. Repeating Yourself:

Those who look to him are radiant; ~Ps. 34:5

Reading the words aloud, I break into a smile…a shy, radiant one.

What husband needs to look at a face knitted in frowns and anxieties?
What Lord needs to be worshipped in worries and scowls?

Wasn't it Anne Lamott who wrote, "Joy is the best makeup. Joy, and good lighting"? And aren't You the best lighting of all?


Lord, in You, let us radiate.

Repost from archives