Smog & Sunset
I spent last weekend at my family’s lake house in Georgia. As I left on Friday afternoon, the horizon was filled with smog, the haze growing thicker as I neared the lake. Ozone alerts were issued as the air was filled with particles of dirt and dust, stuck in our humid southern air. As we watched the sun set over the lake later that evening, I was awestruck by the vibrant shades of orange, purple, blue, yellow, and red in the sky, reflecting onto the calm waters, making it look like the lake was on fire.
The transformation from driving through the smoggy haze to the beauty of a vibrant sunset on the lake reminded me of the ugliness God takes away in our lives to make us beyond beautiful and perfect: our ugly sin. God goes beyond forgiving our sins each day, He takes them away.
When God looks at us, His children, He sees us as beautiful in the purest way: as His perfect image: without our scars, without our baggage, without our wounds, without our imperfections.
He doesn’t forgive and come back with a guarded heart so He doesn’t get hurt again. He doesn’t forgive and come back later, using our past sins against us in a quarrel. He gives His mercy to us unrestrained, every minute, every hour, every day. He loves us with a steadfast love, with His whole heart, completely unguarded, no matter how may times we sin each day, each hour, each minute.
He takes us as an ozone alert smog, where we are barely able to breath on our own, and transforms us, using our history and our life stories, weaving them into something beautiful for His kingdom. As His sons and daughters, He shines His light through our sin, and sees us as unbroken and perfectly created. He shines His light through our smog, transforming the particles of dust into a sunset sky full of every vibrant shade of orange, purple, blue, yellow, and red, with a silhouette of a tower and water that is smooth as glass and glistens of a sparkling fire in His perfection.