Glory

It has been a day when the sun refused to shine.  Gray has been the constant color of the sky that sent drizzling cold rain to the ground all day long.  Grateful is what I was when I looked at the pasture and saw the hay bales put out yesterday.  In a moment totally unexpected the late afternoon turned into the early evening with a sunset beyond description.  Instead of a great ball of fire in the sky which sent colors across Creation's canopy, there was instead a red and orange glow which lit up the sky making it something to behold.    

Seeing through the window what was going on outside caused me to walk out the front door onto the porch.  Even knowing what was out there did not prepare me for what was there.  The color seen through the window did not seem to be limited to the western horizon, but instead was like something mysterious which wrapped me up within it as I stepped outside.  For a moment it seemed that I had indeed stepped into glory.  It was a glory above me, around me, beside me, and a glory that wrapped  its arms around me. 

Imagine for a moment that the glory we see and experience on this earth is but a glimpse of the glory that is just beyond the gray darkness that separates this life from the life that is out there waiting for us.  It is not just the glory of the sun, but the glory of the Risen Christ which is out there waiting for us to step inside of it, ready for us to be surrounded by it, and ready to wrap its arms around us.  Indeed, the glory of the eternal is beyond description.  It is not only the glory that awaits us, but the glory in which those who have gone before us bask in the present moment with joy.