Beams of Glory

I have come realize that I am overwhelmed with blessings everyday here at La Senda. John Piper and C.S. Lewis helped me to understand these blessings more clearly tonight. Although this is long, listen to what they have to say.

C.S. Lewis writes:

"I was standing today in the dark toolshed. The sun was shining outside and through the crack at the top of the door there came a sunbeam. From where I stood that beam of light, with the specks of dust floating in it, was the most striking thing in the place. Everything else was almost pitch-black. I was seeing the beam, not seeing things by it.

Then I moved, so that the beam fell on my eyes. Instantly the whole previous picture vanished. I saw no toolshed, and (above all) no beam. Instead I saw, framed in the irregular cranny at the top of the door, green leaves moving on the branches of a tree outside and beyond that, ninety-odd million miles away, the sun. Looking along the beam, and looking at the beam are very different experiences."

Piper concludes:

"The sunbeams of blessing in our lives are bright in and of themselves. They also give light to the ground where we walk. But there is a higher purpose for these blessings. God means for us to do more than stand outside them and admire them for what they are. Even more, he means for us to walk into them and see the sun from which they come. If the beams are beautiful, the sun is even more beautiful. God's aim is not that we merely admire his gifts, but even more, his glory."

Wow. This was convicting and eye-opening for me. So many times, when I actually recognize a gift from God, I simply thank him and enjoy the gift. Oh, how I am missing the point!

Here in Guatemala, I wake up every morning to the beauty of the sun over the mountains. I get to see Steven's smiling face everyday. Marili tells me many times a week, "Te quiero mucho" (I love you so much). Dave and I get to teach eight kids about the Bible everyday in devotions. I get to cook dinner for five kids about twice a month. I pray with my first hour class every morning. And these are only a few!

More than these, I get to see and experience everyday first-hand the command from James "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." Twenty-one abused, nelgected and abandoned children are cared for, loved and most importantly taught about Jesus and I get to know them and know the people God has chosen to care for them!

I could easily choose to stand on the outside and only see these blessings. But, that is not what God has intended. He wants me to stand in the beam, look back to its source, and say, "God you are so great and worthy of all glory and honor! You are even greater than all of these things!"