Wednesday, April 16

By Nancy Hylton of Seattle, Washington, USA

You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! …he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.

—Psalm 22:23–24

While flying 40,000 feet over the North Atlantic Ocean, I cannot help staring at the sea of clouds below and watching the sun come up along the horizon. It layers the sky in shades from orange to yellow and then blue. I have made the flight many times, but this perspective always startles me. The perspective brought to life by being so high sheds a new and different light.

I once watched a lightning storm from up here. It was the middle of the night over west Texas. I could not take my eyes off the sight for a long time. It was God’s laser light show magnified a thousand times! The clouds lit up in ever-changing patterns and colors, and everything was black between flashes.

It reminds me of our limited view of creation. We find our energy sapped by that perspective, which darkens with the clutter of the mundane. We fail to recognize the bigger picture—what matters most. Often in Seattle, the sun hides behind the clouds. We know the sun is still there, and we expectantly wait for it to rise each morning.

The week is here when we remember that Christ faced a darkness of his own. However, he had faith in the new life of the rising sun.

We cannot always see with a perspective from 40,000 feet, a space station, or even the moon when looking at this fragile home we inhabit. As we focus our mission on God’s peaceable kingdom, we seek to see with new eyes. In times of light and during our dark days, we have the light to know God does not hide God’s face from us.

Prayer for Peace

God who rises with healing wings, grant our souls a season of clear shining after rain. The theme of your salvation, may we find ever new. While in you we confide, we cannot but rejoice.

—adapted from Sometimes a Light Surprises, text by William Cowper

Spiritual Practice: God’s Healing Light

Today’s intercessory prayer comes from the Quaker tradition. Become still, and turn your attention to God. Prayerfully identify a person who is in need of healing, blessing, or guidance. Close your eyes and imagine God’s presence surrounding the person. See or sense the person held in God’s light. Continue holding the person in the light and release the person into whatever blessing is needed from God. Words are not necessary. Trust the Spirit to see and penetrate more deeply than human awareness. Thank God and close with “amen.”

Peace Covenant

Today, God, I will stretch myself for a new perspective.