As I reflect in silence looking over Abu Dhabi’s Mina port, even on a clear day it often feels like I am looking through a stained-glass window. I know there is more clarity to be found and understood. I see some of the filters which muddle my view, even as I construct more. So much is possible. The gentle light from beyond the glass in my view is so close.
Good news echoes across my mind and the dominating silence. The stained glass has left a series of lesson reminders that frame out the day to come.
As clearly as one might think s/he sees something, always be open for more. More insight, more understanding, more clarity. The simple prayer offered to me a long time ago came with a blessing and a warning. “Divinity thanks you for your work and preparation. You are well prepared. The question now is, ‘are you open to more?’” On that day long ago, I said yes and was surprised by what I was shown. Today can be a director’s repeat if my answer is the same.
Sometimes my answers are less than correct, maybe even flat-out wrong! Stained glass creates a soft focus on what is beyond. Twisted thinking likes to reshape my view using a soft relationship to hard truths. It helps to ask heart questions in the bright light of day and in the presence of wisdom. I love the answer which came to my suggested proof statements; “The answer to such questions is no, a most emphatic No! How else would things ever get straightened out if God didn’t do the straightening?” (Romans 3.6)
Stained glass often gives new light to what is within. When filters of compassion, care, and community shape one’s insight, enduring clarity follows. Additionally, when one looks to the light without, I find new insights and truths which leave me with hope, inspiration, and a calling to act. In the stillness there is movement. Embracing what Divinity is doing for me is the best response I can gift to myself and others.
