The Hidden Revealed

While we were at the Dog Agility Contest, my husband Arvo was doing investigative work on the cause of our new sky tube radiating bright blue light as opposed to the subtle natural lighting we had been promised. As I had trudged off in the early morning hours to our dog show, the sky tube painted us with rays of aquamarine. This light did not show off my sunspots and wrinkles to full advantage.

But when we returned from the dog show, the living room was radiant in a spectacular blast of sunlight, miraculously shuttled down a 10 foot reflective tube through our attic into the once dark, and then blue living room. I stood dazzled. So this is what a real sky tube can do, when the blue filter lens is removed! I swirled in the glorious light, turned off the other lights in the room, now redundant and unnecessary. I danced in the rays of sunshine dripping with illumination in our once dreary room. I looked up at the spotlight on the ceiling, shielding my eyes from the riveting brightness.
" Oh happy day!!!!" I exclaimed as I looked all around the room, now released from the shadows.
And then I looked down.
Our what-I-thought-was-a-white-rug was NOT. Now revealed in the blast of light, it was a dingy stain covered rug with visible chunks of dirt and dog hair. I saw a dead cockroach in the corner that had been too dark to notice before.... I saw signs of wear and tear. I dreaded to look at my own skin in that light. I glanced with a half open eye at my hand. EEEEEK!!!! That hand, now painfully visible in the shattering glare of the suntube was covered with scales, and veins, and large spots... it was the hand of an old woman.....This could not belong to me, could it?

"I am not sure I like this skytube," I muttered, as I hurried for the vacuum cleaner. I tried desperately to suck off the spots on my hand, but they appeared to be deeply embedded, the scars of living. The vacuum did devour the chunks and the dead cockroach, but the stains, under the direct glare of the spotlight of sun mocked me and remained.

I love light. I am a little afraid of the dark, and all the horrible worries and visions of the bad things that could be, come at me like trucks barreling towards me in the wrong lane. But darkness can sometimes hide what we would prefer not be exposed. Any aging movie star can tell you that fluorescent lighting is not her friend. It is of course highly relevant that God is described as "light of the world." There is no hiding from God. I have tried, believe me. He is the uber-skytube, shining down with embarrassing clarity on every little sinful deed or even thought. No one looks good in that kind of glaring scrutiny. And yet, while painfully revealing, that light is not harsh. It is filled with love. It caresses every sunspot, every wrinkle and says, "Before you were formed in the womb, I knew you." He knew about the dead decaying bugs in all my corners, the stains and dirt, and still He loved me, still He longed for me to see how easily He could lift me out of the disgusting detritus of my own imperfections, and wash me clean as snow.

I put the vacuum away and glanced at the stains. And then I let my eyes wash over the beautiful sunlit room and decided, stains notwithstanding, I would much rather walk in the light.

Isaiah 1:18
"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.