A Radiant Face
Psalm 34:5
Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.
Have you spent time with a toddler recently? I have! Two of my staff members have young girls... one has a 20 month old daughter (with a second on the way!), and the other has an almost-kindergartner, and every few weeks, we get to have them at our team meetings! I adore babies and toddlers, and I love their absence of boundaries and filters. A toddler doesn't hide anything... for better or worse. When they're angry, hell hath no fury... and when they're happy, there is nothing more magnetic than their laughter, smiles and chubby-armed hugs.
As we grow up, though, there is something that begins to chip away at our pure reflection of our emotions. We become more guarded and a bit more reserved to show our true heart condition. We cover up our sadness, disappointment, resentment. And equally, we temper our own joy and sparkling happiness.
I don't want us to live that way, friends. I want us to live with what Scripture describes as "a radiant face." The Bible also urges us to keep gladness in our hearts, and that radiance is a result. Can you imagine a world full of radiant faces? Surely that radiance will be followed by unity, peace, and abundant kindness.
Let us not live inauthentically, but let us seek to find the gladness and the radiant beauty in the magnificent creation where God has placed us. God never hides the splendor of what He has created, and that includes us. Let us turn radiant faces heavenward and be greeted with gladness!