Reflecting Glory

I was struck recently by how many layers of glory God has. It's not like an onion which you peal off each layer and the onion gets smaller and smaller. In God's case as you reveal more layers of Glory, He gets bigger and bigger. I decided to embark on a study of all His Glory...to be come a glory-ologist if you will.

Layer one is this very world we live in. This world which was not created for us but created to reveal the greatness which is God's ability to speak life into existence. Last summer walking with my mom, we had a flock of geese fly over our heads in perfect V-formation. It was almost as if we could reach out and touch them. We could feel the breeze of their wings on our faces. My mom declared "The Blue Angels have nothing on God." The Blue Angels are a group of fighter jets which do aeronautic marvels while ascending to the heavens at 100s of miles per hour. They are quite stunning to watch. Yet, these simple wings flapping together in perfect harmony sang the beauty of our Creator's glory better than any choir or any words that I can find to describe it. His glory was revealed in that quiet, late summer, evening stroll.

Several days later, I sat in my friend's hospice room, together we peaked through the clouds and through the window to watch those very Blue Angels fly over our heads. The room shook with the power of the thunderous jets. My heart shook with the memory of laughters and tears we made together in that room. There another layer of God's glory was revealed, our ability to Love. Our ability to give and receive love is God in us. In the way we treat each other, in the way we love, we have a chance to reveal God's glory here right now. My friend Janine said "I want you to know that your story is of kingdom importance." Her ability to love was God's glory revealed in my life and in this world.

There are so many more layers to come. For truly that is another layer of glory, the mystery of God...His glory that is just around the corner. The promise of eternity. My hope is that I will become a student of His promises, His story and His love, someday to be a reflection of His glory, just like that flock of geese and my friend Janine.