Window for Glory

Every now and then, amidst the harsh summer heat, we get a day.

The humidity evaporates faster than our patience with the snow after Christmas is over. The sky still gleams summer blue, but the air is breezy and lovely: a delightful 62.

This week we had such a day and I excitedly flipped off the AC as soon as I realized it. I opened our porch door, sliding the screen in place. The temporary blackout curtains covering our windows came down and every window was opened. I just stood for a second, breathing in the fresh air, letting the breeze tickle my arms.

Refreshing doesn’t even feel like a strong enough word for how it felt. I hadn’t realized how stale the air in our room had become, with the windows always shut and the shades pulled.

We made it several hours with fresh air filling the house before I needed to put a little girl down for a nap, so the windows and shades closed again.

It’s funny because those few seemingly insignificant hours ignited a remembrance in my body: this feels like what I was made for. The beams of sunlight across my floor, the breeze, the fresh air, the birdsongs - all reminders that I’m alive and part of something so much bigger than myself. I remember it’s a new day with new mercies and there’s much to be enjoyed.

I count those hours among the little glimpses I get of what we were all made for: complete and total unity with God, connection with His created, perfect peace and wonder.

We all hold the tension, whether we realize it or not, of knowing this is what was intended and understanding it’s not our full present reality. Instead we get glimpses of the goodness and we also walk in grief, sorrow, pain, strained connections, and fear.

I wish it could be 62 and sunny, breezy and lovely, with the windows wide all the time.

And I also know that God reveals Himself in more powerful ways than we could ever imagine when we walk through the unwanted, unexpected, and unknown everyday.

I don’t offer that Truth lightly. My heart has known grief like I couldn’t have ever been prepared for the last five years. It has also known joy and contentment and intimacy with Christ like I never saw coming. Finding and clinging to God’s goodness and presence in the midst of every situation is hard and the most worthwhile thing we might ever do.

When it’s 80 degrees by 9 AM and far too hot to fling open the windows and turn off the AC - there’s a song that lifts my heart and eyes the same way the fresh air and breeze do. I want to share it with you today, praying that it will do the same for you.

I pray that a remembrance will be ignited in you today.

You were made for sweet connection with God. You were made for perfect peace in Christ and wonder at His goodness. You were made to live in His faithfulness amidst the sorrow and the joy. You are not forgotten or forsaken today.

May you have eyes to see it. May your heart know true comfort from the great Comforter. May you have the capacity to engage in delight every time it drifts by.

May you fling wide the windows of your heart to receive His glory and wonder today.

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window for glory to slide in by Abbie Gamboa

I am restless from all of the waiting

I did not come here to stay in

The same place that I’m always in

I’ve been craving a moment of quiet

A window for glory to slide in

To every corner and crevice of my life

And I still cry as I, I find

There’s so much more to this than I know

Your glory is all I’m longing for

I am delighted to search out a matter

You hide things for me to discover

There’s secrets just two lovers know