* Reflection

The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones—like jasper and carnelian. And the glow of an emerald circled his throne like a rainbow.
Revelation 4:3 NLT

As I walked into my home office, I caught a glimpse of a colorful, tiny flash of light from the other room. As I went to investigate, I realized that earlier in the day I'd forgotten to close the lid of my jewelry box. The sun was setting and cast its light just right to slip through the blinds and catch the facets of the birthstones in my mother’s ring. For just a snippet of time, it was brilliantly lit as though it were alive. It was a unique moment with the sun lighting up the stones and reflecting back, and in that instant, I was reminded of our text for today.

For the nanosecond of time that it took to transpire, I feel as though I received a wealth of insight - the most obvious being how the faceted stones reflected the light. To me, the facets were an example of Christ followers who get close enough to Him to allow Him to cut and shape them into a thing of beauty. Submitting to the necessary cutting away of those things that don't or won't reflect His light...being transparent before the Lord our God. You see, it's the transparent gems which are normally faceted.

Faceting reveals the optical properties of a stone's interior at its best because faceting maximizes the light's reflection. However, it's not done indiscriminately. You can't just whack off a piece here and there. It takes careful consideration by the master jeweler - if He cuts too deep or too shallow, the light just passes through and isn't reflected back. It won't sparkle.

God calls us His precious jewels, but if we don't allow God to shape us, if we don't submit to Him, if we refuse to go through the cutting away process, and choose to keep parts hidden from His view, we cannot reflect His light back to Him - or to others. Anyway, that's my reflection on reflecting...

Prayer:

Father,
        Whatever it takes to make me reflect You... In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen