The Afterglow

Tiny flecks of silver and gold litter the hallway. The microscopic bits do not fail to catch my attention as they taunt me with their shine and shimmer underneath the hot bright lights. It appears that nearly everything in my home was covered in glitter by a little fairy who swept herself from room to room dusting her confections upon my clean furniture.

The aftermath of Christmas is settling upon us. Read: aftermath… not afterglow.

Why Father do we not glow? Having celebrated the birth of your Son? Have we not rejoiced in your glory? Perhaps we have not.

I sense within myself a driven need to toss the tables in my home like Jesus did when He entered the temple. The goods hoarded within my house must find their way out for I feel suffocated by things. But, in wisdom, I know that it is not the stuff. I have little attachment to things and, though I war inside sometimes, I can freely open my doors and toss all that clutters my closets. I am unaware as to how so many things find their way into said closets.

I believe it is that little fairy once again. Yes, that little fairy. She and I cannot be friends.

It is wisdom that prevails once again as I continue my dusting. My glitter collecting. Perhaps I should collect the glitter like Jesus collects my tears. I can look upon the glitter to remind myself to seek the afterglow, not feel burdened by the aftermath.

It is wisdom that tells me it is not the dusting of my home nor the contents of my closets that require my attention. It is the contents of my wayward soul that needs a good sweep. It was wisdom that told me this when I bent my head over my bible this very morning asking The Lord to show me where to turn my eyes in order to feast upon His word. I was in desperate need of nourishment. This is where I believe His Spirit led me:

As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.
My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.
By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
I say to God, my rock:
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?”
As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

If your soul was hungry, would you know it? If you walked in the afterglow, would you feel it? If the Spirit was speaking, would you hear it?

Too often we burden ourselves with our failures instead of standing upon Christ’s triumphs in our lives. This is the picture of abundant living for this wayward child. If I were to draw it for you to see, it would resemble a circle.

A circle. Perhaps it is a large and oddly shaped circle, but a circle none-the-less. My prayer is for The Lord, my Rock, my Fortress and my Saviour, to finish what He started… in me. The Lord set me on a new path in 2014, but that path has once again come to a fork in the road.

Perhaps your own journey is akin to mine. Maybe your prayer is different than mine, but it is a prayer- a plea really- for The Lord to finish what He began so long ago. I suppose in the grand scheme of life, long ago may be but a day to Him and nothing more than a stitch in time.

So, this is my prayer for you:

Father, I ask that we may shine in the afterglow of your glorious miracle. I pray that the afterglow radiate from our shoulders and shine from our faces. I pray that the afterglow shimmer in the dark of night; glint and twinkle like glitter in the brightness of day. May we, your children, bask in the afterglow of the year that was, not allowing the enemy of our souls to taunt us with the aftermath of what may have been. Amen.

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