Let There Be Light

EMAIL DEVOTIONAL
Pentecost 11

God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. (Genesis 1:3-4a)

[My sincere thanks to Brendan Armitage, who offered these thoughts in an email correspondence with me, and who allowed me to share them with you as a devotion, at my prompting.  When Sunday night came, I was spent after a full weekend, and my devotional tank was on fumes.  I thought Monday would be better, but I could not get my spiritual heart in line with my brain.  Then this morning, while catching up on email, I found this treasure, and asked Breandan if I could share it with you all.  He agreed with a deep humility that belies the excellent of this devotional image.  Thank you, Brendan.  Blessings to the rest of you as you enjoy it ….]

We’re up in the air again, returning from a trip to Seattle and Portland and as usual I’m staring out the window.  What’s staring back at me is this perfect white pillow of uniform color and shape going out to the horizon.  Azure blue above.  Marshmallow white below, and it got me to thinking.  While I can’t see the ground right now, I can see the sunshine all around me.  Could it be that God is always smiling and we often just can’t see that?  It’s a staid metaphor to be sure, but here it is, as perfect as a Greek or Israeli flag.  I’ll try to remember this image, that there is always brilliant sunshine and God smiling down on us, if only we would part the clouds that obscure our souls. Obviously we can’t always get to 30,000 feet to get above the clouds, but we can honestly talk and attentively listen to each other at Stauffers and at church.  We can write our prayers and thoughts down on paper or onto our devices, and we can open our Bibles,  and part the clouds that darken our spirits.  It’s easy to see God in August, as we harvest His abundance, but maybe we can make it easier to find the that same blessing in January too.  God is always smiling…through the clouds…and through you too.

Avatar photo

Rev. Craig Ross

Senior Pastor

The vibrancy of life here at St. Peter’s makes my service on our staff a joy and privilege. Visitation, teaching and preaching are the ministries that feed my pastoral identity, as together our staff and lay members share in our missional calling … Building a community of faith by God’s grace.

One comment

  1. Thanks Brendan for sharing faith-filled thoughts, images and experiences that occur while traveling. Good stuff!

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.