Moonlight

Three days ago, the moon was very bright. I remember looking up at it and wondering if it could see the sun as it was spilling its silver all over the whole world, as if to transform it into something beautiful.

Later that evening, there was a lunar eclipse, the first I had ever seen. I watched through an exhausted haze as the earth's shadow fell over the radiance of the light. The world around me grew clouded, sinking into darkness barely lit by the sliver of brightness left from the silhouetted moon.

The next night, the full moon rose through its own haze--earth's atmosphere turned its silver to blood.

I suppose if someone hadn't compared me to the moon's loveliness before the eclipse, I wouldn't have thought about it. It was a compliment that should have left me soaring, for it spoke of my focus on the Son, my life as a reflection, spillng Jesus' love to everyone around me.

But the ensuing effects upon the moon served to leave me pensive, and I've not been able to erase the images from my memory.

I know the shadow. I know the pain that brings bloodshed. But I think, through it all, I must remember one thing:

The moon always shines. It is always there. At times, its face may not be turned toward the earth, but always it is turned toward the sun, reflecting. It takes time to reach its zenith, and it is often hidden by clouds. But even through the eclipse, you could make out its outline in the shadow, and when it rose red the next night, there was no doubt of its beauty or the reflection of the sunlight.

Perhaps the light of the moon is not always pure to my view, filtered through the muck and shadows of this earth, but to heaven's view, it is always perfectly brilliant, a reflection of the sun.
Because of Jesus, I am to Heaven's view always a perfect reflection of the Son.