It says that in Heaven
there will be no sun and no moon
no stars to brighten the night
There will be no need,
for the Glory of the Lord
will render those other lights
dark in comparison…
I always wondered…
a bit forlorn
and quite fond of my own
perception of light….
how this could be?
But last night,
at 1 A.M.
the dog
who got into something
he shouldn’t
quietly whimpered at my bedside
in sheer but polite desperation.
Ironically he is not the gentleman dog
to say the least,
yet strangely,
one of the reasons we have kept him around
is that he knows when the house is asleep
and that if he needs to be let out
he will sit at the side of our bed and whine…. softly
As he has matured these nighttime interruptions have become increasingly more
frequent and definitely more annoying,
So Ethan and I take turns
venturing into the dark cold night.
Cooper seems to have a sense whose turn it is to rise, and sits
at the appropriate side of the bed,and softly whimpers.
Wakened from a warm, deep, dreamless sleep,
it occurred to me that it was
my dreaded turn,
Too aware and too guilty to roll over and pretend
I did not hear his request….
For this would only breed contempt, and woken children who
would be grumpier than I
and reply with a double
more insistent complaint.
So I disobeyed every want in my body that begged for irresponsibility and
rose… bitten by the cold
beyond the confines of the down blanket
begrudgingly muttering louder than was necessary
whose dumb idea
was it to get a dog anyway?
On my way to the kitchen I stepped on Logan’s boot
suddenly aware that he had stayed out late
sledding with his friends that night knowing morning would
probably bring a snow day…
Ugh…and its snowing….I cried…
nattering on with lament…. my internal diatribe complained and scorned
“how come when its my turn to walk the darn dog…its not just cold..but a blizzard….”
I pulled my boots up over my flannel
pajamas, swearing under my breath
that SOMEBODY else…. has to take this mutt
out before bed…
I wiped the sleep from my eyes with the edge of my mittens
and pulled the scarf up above my nose bracing for the
wind that would greet me as I walked out the door.
And then I stepped outside…
My complaint was hijacked mid muttering
And I spoke out loud the only word I could find…” WOW!!!”
This was absolutely beautiful..
the sounds of life were muffled by the snow
And it was louder than any silence I had ever heard…
And every surface, road, sidewalk, and
tree was covered with at least a foot of snow…
And it was brilliant
and white
untouched by living
sacred and silent
And I just kept thinking….
of how Bright it was..
like noonday sun,
I could see everywhere
not a star in the sky ,
no moon to be seen and I was able to
see by just the reflection of the white.
And I was almost brought to my knees,
As I gazed at this snow glory
turning in every direction to see…
as I realized this was only a taste of
what heaven would be…
“The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it,
for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp”
And at once I knew…this was one of those times
when God reached down
into creation to show me
beauty
And that even in frustration
of unwanted wakening
and cold air…
He is there
calling to me
showing me His love
in creation lessons
in Snow Glory…
and I am humbled that I
often venture into
circumstance,
with irritation instead of delight
when I am reminded that at any moment,
even at 1 AM on a snowy Wednesday night
God shows up to teach me.
again…