The Shuttered Window

If only experiencing spiritual joy were as easy as opening the window shutters.

One moment the room is gloomy, the next it is cheerful and bright.  But then again,  window shutters are a good reminder that my experience of gloom is not the same experience I would have if the sun suddenly disappeared. I may feel a certain darkness inside the house of my soul, I may not even have the strength to open the shutters, but the earth is still spinning in its orbit and I have not frozen to death in the darkness of a sunless space.  The Sun is still doing its job even when my soul is shuttered. 

And God is doing his job as well, however I may be feeling today. Shine on, Lord God, and sustain us by your grace, and forgive me for how often I define you by my current feelings.

Content To Be A Brick

Have you looked at a brick wall recently?  Very few individual characteristics stand out about each brick. You tend to notice the wall, the strength, the solidarity, the togetherness, and not each individual brick.

The Bible says that we are like living stones, built into a spiritual house for the Lord.  May we be content to be just one of those bricks, leaving to the Lord our individual reputation or our individual accomplishments, and glad to be a part of the larger whole of his Spirit indwelt church, his holy temple on earth. 

Of course, you would notice a gap, where a brick should be.