I have one more thought about light this morning. It is a story I have told often, so you are probably already familiar with it. But it is a story that illustrates the light in us that I want to think about again today.
My grandson Carter and I used to love to go to the Boise Art Museum (BAM) on our frequent excursions around town when he was younger. We usually timed our visits to the arrival of a new exhibit. One of those exhibits was vases. Now looking at vases is probably not high on my list of things I want to spend an afternoon doing, yet these vases made more of an impression on my life than any other art exhibit I viewed.
The vases were all different sizes and shapes and were uniquely “decorated” with woodland and ocean scenes. I originally thought they were simply painted, but when we watched a video of their creation, I was awestruck.
First the artist made the glass vase. Then he proceeded to cover it with applications of color, one on top of another, layer upon layer – browns, greens, yellows, blues, reds … firing each one after application.
Then he scored the vase, digging down into each color by cutting into the layers of color to “create” a scene. Finally, a light was inserted into the vase so that the beauty was revealed. Light shown through each “scar” created. As I stood there the Scripture from 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 flooded my soul.
“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” [NKJV]
The Light of the World indwells us. In our earthen vessels, which are often beaten, scarred, and broken by life, He abides.
Often the more broken and scarred we are, the more of His light is revealed.
