City Beyond the Hill

On my way to work last week, as I was talking with God, it was relatively dark as I made an early morning run to get things set up for the day. I take a little side road with bends, dips and turns in the road. There is a place where road crews are doing some construction, changing an awkward, chair-shaped intersection into a more standard 4 way intersection where the traffic light is. I have been traveling this route for maybe 18 years, each day I go to work. It's nice because there are forested trees and woods that one drives past. The horrific expansion that plagued Gwinnett County and now threatens Cherokee has not touched this pristine area, for the most part.

As I came out of dip in the road and around the corner, I saw something that I was not expecting, that took my breath away. Lights, many of them, shining through the woods. It looked like a city, just over the hill in the darkness, peeking over the surrounding dark terrain! "What?" I said to myself, as I slowed down to see these beautiful beams winking and cascading through the woods.

It soon became apparent that these lights came from the small businesses and lampposts around the intersection under construction. The clearing of some small homes and the terraforming of the land had made these previously unseen lights shine through the forest. As I thought about this, I considered my situation. Like the road, our lives are filled with valleys and heights. Death and life. Good times and bad. Turns and curves come unexpectedly out of the darkness of the future. It is indeed helpful to have a light, to keep us on the road of God's will, His Holy Word, Illuminated to our minds by the Holy Spirit. And at the end of our lives, the city just over the hill is there. The place He has built, that we may be with Him, our creator and redeemer, the One we love. It is often that we do not see the big picture, being occupied with just trying to make it through our daily challenges.

Dear God,
I pray that you would illuminate our lives, that we may see the larger picture. Shine on us, light of Heaven. Make us Yours. Heal us, and let your love be made known. May your will be done. Amen.

Glenn