Seeing Glory

I get a daily text from the Moravians which is always short and simple, and always leaves me convicted of some message from God. Today's verse was from Exodus 33, when Moses asks God, "Show me your glory." I thought about that verse and its circumstances. Moses has been asked by God to lead the Israelites through the desert, on their journey to the Promised Land. Moses is willing, but still has a concern. How can he lead these people on the word of a God he does not fully know? He understands something that I think I fail daily to grasp. It is not on *my* glory that anyone will follow any of my excellent guidance or advice, nor is it on *my* glory that satisfaction ever rests. That rests on God's glory alone. Yet how often am I eager for adulation and validation that I am doing a *good job*? How often do I worry that my life is not happy enough, not going the right way, too fraught with problems, and sadness, and disappointment? How often have I not done what God asked me to do, and stepped forth in His glory, rather than my own? And how incredibly ungrateful I have been for the manifold blessings I have, seeing every sunrise, looking upon a world He has molded, surrounded by the very people He longs for me to touch...and I draw back. I think true gratitude, true Thanksgiving, cannot ever evolve from selfish pursuits. I think it always involves seeing the glory of God for what it is, the light that properly and perfectly illuminates everything we have been given.

Yesterday, I spent the day visiting nursing homes. First I went to Comer, who is not doing well. His hip is inexplicably covered with bruises and he is in great pain. He also has increasingly stopped-up ears, so even with my shouting at the top of my lungs, he struggled to hear me. His normally cheerful outlook is being sorely tested. He crumpled at one point and cried out, "Lord, I don't like this!" I wanted to comfort him, but he couldn't hear anything I said. I had dropped by to tell him I had finished typing in his 130 (!) new poems, and had designed his book cover, and submitted it all to the publisher. Lord willing, the proof will arrive next week. I hope seeing his second book of poetry in print will cheer him up.
"I wrote some more," he told me, and pulled the new poems out for me to see. One was a poem of thankfulness for compassionate caregivers.
I asked if he would have a special Thanksgiving meal tomorrow.
He shrugged, "I can't go anywhere. It hurts too much to move. I hope they will bring it to me..."

Next, leaving Comer, I headed off to see my mother-in-law. She was sitting in her wheelchair facing her window, looking out.
"Hello," I said, sitting next to her, "Too bad there isn't a bird feeder out your window so you could see birds."
"I like looking out," she said, "It reminds me there is a world out there."
I told her I would be back tomorrow to pick her up for the day, and she would have Thanksgiving dinner with us. After we visited a while, I wheeled her to the dining room where her table of friends were gathered. I quizzed them on their favorite Thanksgiving side dish, hoping to come up with something to serve at our own small gathering. The winner was cranberry apple sauce mixed with whipped cream. MMMM! I asked if they were all going home with their families for Thanksgiving. They all shrugged.

I would like to make a plea to everyone this Thanksgiving. Go hug an old person or a lonely person today. (Yes, Asherel...even your mom....) So many of them are left only with memories, and a spark of hope that maybe this time, some family member will remember to call. Go forth not in pursuit of your own joy, but in pursuit of God's Glory.

Exodus 33:14-18 (NIV)
The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” [15] Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. [16] How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” [17] And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” [18] Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

Leviticus 19:32 (NIV)
“ ‘Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord.

Colossians 3:15-17 (NIV)
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. [16] Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. [17] And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.




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