A Glimpse of Glory

The kids and I took a sunset cruise last night. A cruise on two-wheels, that is. It wasn’t practical. It wasn’t planned. It was simply a break from the normal. Though the clock warned that bedtime was just around the corner, I suggested a bike ride instead. No one argued!

I popped my pajama–clad baby in the bike trailer and beckoned my pre–teens to take the lead. The sun was sinking as we pedaled onto the trail beyond our neighborhood. A full moon waited to take its place as we meandered beneath a canopy of shadowy trees. We biked in the quiet dusk with an unspoken sense of awe. There were no street lamps to compete with the sunset, no house lights to rival the fireflies. Maggie sang with the frogs and the locusts as the whirr of our wheels added harmony. Lukas spotted a muskrat roving across the dark water and we paused to watch the unusual evening swim. Lizzy spied a family of deer congregating in the nearby field and Maggie scared them away with a happy squeal.

By the time we turned around and headed for home the wildflowers were silently closing their petals for the night. Right before we reached our neighborhood, we sailed around the last curve on the trail and came face to face with a glimpse of glory. Brakes squealed. Bikes screeched to a halt. The lake was ablaze with color. Against the backdrop of darkness, liquid ripples danced with holy hues- orange, pink, purple, gold, and every shade of wonder in between. The lake’s watery canvas reflected the sunset’s final hallelujah with wordless praise. My normally noisy children grew still. Even Maggie stopped singing and murmured, “oooohhhhh…. Pretty.” I savored the moment of reverence and thanked God for the unexpected taste of Heaven.

As I plopped my tired baby into the bathtub after parking our bikes and stashing our helmets, I smiled at a simple revelation: Each night while I go about my ordinary routine, God is doing the extraordinary. I may be scrubbing dirty toes and reading bedtime stories to tired toddlers, but the Painter of the Sunset is splashing the drab canvas of earth with the colors of eternity. Regardless of how commonplace life feels, GLORY is closer than we think.

Today’s Overflow: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Psalm 19:1