Warriors of Light

Warrior of Light, Christiane Flores 2015

My dear brothers and sisters...

Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Ephesians 6:14-17

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”
John 8:12

::

Warrior of Light

Golden warrior,
at the foot of an ashen fortress,
you are a flame
waging light into an abyss.

Your glowing wake
brands a narrow path,
through long shadows
of towers lost and rivers black.

You blaze a plated shield
forged in light and faith,
and flanked on your shoulders
are wings cast in fate.

Your aureate armor
submerged in soot and mire,
never bares mar or tarnish
but purification by fire.

Your guide is a fiery sword
blazing into the night,
and your heart, carved in ore
weighs the lives lost from light.

What hearts will you ignite
as embers from the dark debris?
What stray children of your king
will you uncover and set free?

Rise and Shine

This Little Light, Christiane Flores 2015

This Year

This year I decided not to give up our Christmas tree

and pack up all its splendor into a box.

Instead I thought it might be worth keeping

such a lovely thing shining on.

So I found a lampstand more worthy of its light
a hilltop better fitting its rich display
and not always found by earthly sight,
but burning in hearts night and day.

And so it became adorned,
a life like a humble evergreen,
with hands outspread to be warmed
by the light of love they were bearing.

Words were like ornaments to hang
sparkling with joy and sweetness
ringing little songs that faithful shepherds sang
celebrating God's power and meekness.

Happy new year to you, my dear
the child who knew there had to be
some way to have Christmas each day of the year,
a life lit up like a Christmas tree.

::

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
Matthew 5:14 

“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth
    and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
    and his glory appears over you.
Nations will come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Isaiah 60:1-3 

Season of the Dreamer

I'm sure most of us notice the signs of the coming season - some more than others - depending on where we live. Here in California, it's the season that's just beginning to peak through the clouds and reveal its spindly branches. It's not the Christmas or Holiday season, though that is its shining feature. It's the season of Winter and all that it carries with it. I saw a sky like this one pictured, a few Winters ago, and it caused me to notice other beautiful new things all around me. More than the clouds taking shape in the sky, I saw that nature was starting to change its own decor the way we deck our halls. Around here one has to look for these changes a little more closely. It's subtle. It doesn't come pouring down from Heaven in snowy white splendor. 

This is a special time of year in which so many cultures celebrate light. How fitting. We miss those long bright days on the darkest ones. Now that we're almost upon that shortest and darkest day of the year, I think it's good to think about the metaphor we are presented with. (The sun is down by 5 o'clock now. So we have the time.) We experience this cycle of life in every stage: night and day, Summer and Winter, life and death, waking and sleeping. So here were are in the evening, knowing that morning is on the other side of the hill and Spring is around the corner. Let's light some candles, sing a lullaby or a Christmas carol, and watch the lights twinkle upon the trees. 

We must then remember that we're not the ones changing out these decorations, or making the sun go up or down. We are a special feature in this scenery, spectators to a majesty we cannot conceive, the objects of a creator's dream. It's just too beautiful and orderly for me to think of it any other way. Let's enjoy this season in humble wonder, as we are the dear children being tucked into bed. I hope that when we close our eyes, we can all rest assured that we know the one watching over us.

Dream of Winter

Rippled opaline sky,
burning with silver,
we are painted you and I,
by the One who dreamed of Winter.

Chiseled amethyst limbs,
brushed with sterling,
we are painted by His sky,
in the low color of seasons turning.

Dappled jet lane,
gilded with light,
we are glittered you and I,
by the One slowly dimming the light.

::

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."
- Albert Einstein

"Whoever wants to know something about me – as an artist which alone is significant – they should look attentively at my pictures and there seek to recognize what I am and what I want."
- Gustav Klimt 

"Have you ever commanded the morning to appear
    and caused the dawn to rise in the east?
Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth,
    to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?
As the light approaches,
    the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal;
    it is robed in brilliant colors."
- God to Job, Job 12-14 

“Where does light come from,
    and where does darkness go?
Can you take each to its home?
    Do you know how to get there?
But of course you know all this!
For you were born before it was all created,
    and you are so very experienced!"
“Have you visited the storehouses of the snow
    or seen the storehouses of hail?
²³ (I have reserved them as weapons for the time of trouble,
    for the day of battle and war.)
²⁴ Where is the path to the source of light?
    Where is the home of the east wind?"
- God to Job, Job 19-24 

In peace I will lie down and sleep,
    for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe."
- Psalm 4:8

Your Gift To Bring

Little Drummer Boy 2009 Jon Baldwin Art

What do our lives spell out - for the people around us, for the generations that will remember us? Do they spell out something that can reach beyond us and make a difference in those lives? Our lives, especially when summed up at the end, will be a tribute to something, to someone - an accomplishment, a contribution, a cause, a God.

Maybe you feel you have nothing to contribute. Well, maybe this will help. I volunteered to sing with some other women at an event at church. Before the event, I was a little bit of a wreck. Upon expressing how insecure I was about my abilities, my friend Sue, replied, "Just think of the Little Drummer Boy." That helped me. So no matter how meager, this is "my gift to bring".

What is your gift to bring? What is your tribute? And who is it to?

::

My Tribute

This is my cathedral,
scribbled lines like climbing spires,
crying out like a mouth of marble,
dear Lord, hear our prayers.

This is my cry in the wilderness,
a love letter like an echo,
a messenger in the darkness,
dying before it will let go.

This is my sacrifice,
a song like a broken heart,
praising God in the highest,
from a wrinkled paper altar.

::

tribute
- a gift, testimonial, compliment, or the like, given as due or in acknowledgment of gratitude or esteem.
 

The Sweet Harvest

First Picasso, now Van Gogh. I know. But they're famous for a reason. I read that this amazing piece was painted toward the end of Van Gogh's life, as he looked at death more closely. I always hoped that he was looking at this wheat field, at the final harvest, so to speak, through the parables of Jesus. I also read that he knew those parables. That's encouraging to me, but what a burden of work he had built up by the end of his life. I hope he had a place to lay that burden down and know his life's work would not be for nothing.

We all hope to see the fruit of our labor. But all the things we work so hard for will one day be gone, as will we, unless what we sow is seed sown into a higher field, a greater kingdom, a place that never fades away, a place that receives its harvest like a mother receives her children. Do you ever just feel like going home? Well, let's go. And let's tell everyone where we're going, shining with hope, like children who miss their home. Let's overflow the mighty and loving arms of the God who first sowed us in the fruitful earth.

Power and Light

Small bud of wheat,
you sway glowing among a million,
a bulb of light and heat,
to highlight the hillside kingdom.

Your purpose is forever sweet,
even into the night,
by the rays of a lowering sun,
kissing you golden
with life.

::


Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground.  Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens.  The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens.  And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.”
- Mark 4:26-29 NLT

Day

This Is The Day

You are the Morning Star,
the true light of the whole world,
yet within my shadowy little soul,
my four walls and a window,
you are the gentle light falling in,
spreading slowly along the corners,
highlighting the shapes of things,
casting a merciful light upon me,
I need only pull back the shade,
let in the light of your day,
and be glad
in the new life you have made.

::

This is the day the Lord has made.
    We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Please, Lord, please save us.
    Please, Lord, please give us success. 
Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
    We bless you from the house of the Lord. 
The Lord is God, shining upon us.
    Take the sacrifice and bind it with cords on the altar. 
You are my God, and I will praise you!
    You are my God, and I will exalt you!

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
    His faithful love endures forever.

- Psalm 118:24-29

But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief. For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night. So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded.

- 1 Thessalonians 5:4-7 

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end; 
they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

- Lamentations 3:22-23 

Write Your Name In The Air

In this interesting post I found, Light Writing With Picasso, by Jared Ragland, we're given a little peak into the revolutionary work of photographer, Gjon Mili, and an artist named Pablo Picasso, from 1949. These photographs inspire me and draw their own burning question within me -

Pablo Picasso light drawing. Photo by Gjon Mili.

Who is taking our picture? These photos of Pablo Picasso creating art with a little flashlight have always amazed me. But unlike the beautiful image that gets burned into that film or ultimately read into a hard drive, where do we find the man behind it now? We make our mark in this world, but for what, for who, and for how long? I hope when you smile for your picture, when you sign your name upon the fading page of your life, that you will know the name of the Photographer, your Keeper, the Name above all other names. Philippians 2:9,10

Smile

Write your name in the sand,
little man.
Write your name in the sand.
Spin your sparkler in the air.
Make your art blaze -
then disappear.
You’ll be blessed if you capture
what Picasso could.
We’ll be blessed if we get captured.
The air always swallows up the light.
The tide sweeps in like the night.
Flash your face to the sky,
little child,
and smile.

::

How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.
- James 4:14

What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them
with glory and honor.You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
- Psalm 8:4-6