Perfect Light

There are times, post-rain, near sunset, when the sun casts a magical light and transforms everything in its path with unfathomable beauty. 

That particular shade of light, it's unreal...surreal...ethereal... It makes every common thing look grand and pure and heavenly.  It makes every common thing jaw-droppingly, mind-blowingly beautiful.  Seriously. 

Tonight, I couldn't stop gazing at simple stalks of corn, they appeared so rapturous and transcendent, reflecting the beauty so perfectly that it seemed they became that beauty.  And the beauty of the perfect light perfected every good aspect those stalks possessed and more than covered over every insufficiency.  I was staring at stalks of corn, and I felt that my human body in all its capacities was not sufficient to fully process this unearthly beauty.

As I was soaking it all in, full of wonder, unable to fully comprehend what my eyes were seeing, it struck me--the same God who makes the sun cast this perfect light is the same God who has given us His Son, the most perfect light.  And isn't that what He does?  He takes ordinary, common, flawed people, shines His perfect light on them, and transforms them to become grand, pure, rapturous, transcendent, jaw-droppingly, mind-blowingly beautiful.  The kind of beauty that mystifies and entrances all who gaze on it, because it is so...perfect. 

If you look closely, you can see a double rainbow!

Tonight, our amazing Creator and loving Father awed me with new understanding of Jesus' own words: "I am the Light of the world...Be perfect as I am perfect..." (John 8:12, Matt. 5:48).  Of course, it makes perfect sense: we become perfect not by toiling legalistically to do all the right spiritual things, but by letting He who is perfect reflect through us and perfect us.  I've known that in my mind, but now it seems so beautifully clear...