Craning Toward the Light

You have said, "Seek my face."
My heart says to you,
"Your face, Lord, do I seek."
Psalm 27:8

Months ago, my wife planted tulips in a makeshift planter box I quickly assembled out of scrap wood from our ever-increasing pile in the back yard. Over the past few weeks we have enjoyed seeing these flowers push through the soil and begin to crane their brilliantly colored heads and faces toward the sun. They do so because they were made to do so, for the sun–the warmth it gives and the light it provides–brings forth life. These flowers, unknown to them, seek the face of the sun. And they should.

We, as plantings of the Lord, are to crane our heads toward him, seeking his face, for it is from his face, his presence, that life emanates. Yet unlike flowers, we know this, can experience it, and can receive his affection and love.

We may seek him in hours of prayer, in meditation on his Word, in the stillness of a morning or evening, in the company of friends, and in the hurriedness that is much of our lives. He is to be found everywhere for he is every where. "The world is charged with the grandeur of God," begins G.M. Hopkins in his poem, God's Grandeur. We can catch glimpses of him if we have but eyes to see. And through those eyes that desire to see–however slightly they may be opened–we seek the face of God. And that is the posture he desires. We do not do this perfectly, no. But we do it obediently for obedience is a healthy practice, just as those tulips obey the sun's wooing to turn towards its warmth and life-giving light.

Grace & Peace