There is a lot of dew on the grass in the summertime.
We walk by it every morning, un-fazed and unimpressed. Its juuuust water.
Normal water on normal grass on a normal morning in a normal world with a normal person looking very normally at it all.
But wait.
One day, you come later than usual. It’s cold enough that, even in the summertime, you can see your breath percolating in the crisp air.
It’s still mostly dark, but the rumblings of light are beginning.
You look down at that normal grass with its very normal color and think, “hm. how normal.”
But then the sun.
Before you know it, rays hit the water and everything changes.
It’s like glittering, dancing beads of diamonds, strung closely together. Through every droplet of sparkling splendor, you see a prism of light, reflecting and catching the light of the sun itself.
The whole field looks like this. What was once normal is now spectacular.
I think people are like this in some ways.
I have met them. They seem pretty normal – that is wrong in and of itself, for no one is just “normal” – but you don’t know much about them, so you just go on assuming their normalcy.
“Just water on grass.” And they probably think the same of you.
Then one day – you don’t even know how – but the sun hits them. You get to know them in a deeper way and you begin to see the real “them.” Or maybe it’s more like, you start seeing the Son in them.
And then, just like the dazzling glitter of the dew in the morning grass, you can’t just look away. You can’t forget them, you can’t see them as you always have. You’re seeing the Son in them and that is a magnificent splendor. All of a sudden, you see them as more beautiful and special and you wonder how you could ever have thought otherwise.
You’re seeing a piece of that great Love that first drew you; you’re seeing a glance of Himself in these people.
But its not themselves. Just like it’s not the grass that is beautiful in and of itself. It doesn’t become truly awesome until the sun hits it. Before that, it’s just normal grass. And the water droplets are just water droplets.
The Son makes everything – the whole world and everything in it – beautiful. Strikingly awesome.
One of my favorite verses (and one of my life verses) is Daniel 12:9:
“….those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”
It reminds me of Moses. You know, how he came down from the mountain and his whole face was glowing.
Why?
Ah. He had been in the presence of the Light itself and he couldn’t help but be effected by it.
So, these people. These ones I know who have the Son in them. They can’t help but shine, because the light inside of them is greater than the darkness in the world.
Strangely enough, some of these “shining people” are the same people who have been broken the most; who carry the quiet battles you don’t know about. They may suffer in silence, yet the light in them beams more brightly every day.
They can’t help but shine, because the light inside of them is greater than the darkness and hardships of the world. And He is glorified in their battles and brokenness Because people – like me – are not tempted to look at them in and of themselves, but at the Great Light that is in them. Like the dew in the grass, they reflect the greatness of His beauty and Light and the world sees and marvels.
Yes, there is a lot of dew on the grass in the summertime.
But the sun turns it into diamonds.
“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matt 5:16
The Silent Storyteller 