A Glimpse, very small, of Joy

I awoke on Thursday morning - same as always - alarm going off to the song Light of the Stable (I love Christmas music). I lay there a minute listening to the song.

Hail, hail to the newborn king
Let our voices sing him our praises
Hail, hail to the guiding light
That brought us tonight to our saviour

Ale, alleluia, alle, alleluia
Ale, alleluia, alle, alleluia

Come now, there it shines so bright
To the knowing light of the stable
Lean close to the child so dear
Cast aside your fear and be thankful

I stumble out of bed, eyes still closed...do the whole morning thing. Twenty minutes later I go downstairs to get the children out the door. I open the blinds in the kitchen and my breath is taken away. I see the most beautiful sunrise that I have seen in a long time! It wasn't just the color, although the colors were spectacular - beautiful blue and orange and pink and red - there was more. There were beautiful swirly clouds through out it. This gave it texture, the clouds catching the colors and turning them into different shades. It was rich and luxurious. I didn't just want to look at it, I wanted to TOUCH it.

PURE JOY!

On Wednesday night when I closed the blinds and went to bed, I saw only total darkness. To think that our Creator painted this beautiful sunrise this morning to show me that He is in control and He is creative and He loves beauty! That even though there was darkness...a little time later and.....this. And even though there were clouds, they were not able to block the beauty of the morning, they actually enhanced the beauty - making it more...more....spectacular. I sit and look at it for a few minutes. Then I mumble this, "God, please take my messy, dark life and paint the future as beautiful as this."

Is that possible? Is it possible that the clouds of my life can enhance the painting?

A glimpse of JOY.