Reflections of God's Glory

It seems to me that much of our daily life is spent in the struggle just to get from point A to point B. I get up, let the dogs out, get my first cup of coffee, dress, apply makeup and fix hair, kiss my hubby good-bye and zoom out the door in a little over one hour. Upon arriving at work I boot up the computer, grab the second of many daily cups of coffee, start filtering e-mails and basically complete the workday routines (I call myself the Human Router). Life narrows down to a very narrow tunnel. Now I know, as I am gently but effectively reminded by my friend “T B” that the bible teaches us that in order to attain everlasting life in heaven we must live our earthly lives solely to glorify our Lord. Not by bringing glory to ourselves, our employers, or even to our loved ones, but by glorifying our Lord. The many ways we have been given to accomplish this are set out in the Bible if we but take the time to follow them. But for me at least the everyday routines of my life completely obscure this one simple but critical directive. So it was a beautiful surprise recently to realize yet again that He gives us the tools we need to bring our focus back to His real purpose - to recognize and know God in our very hearts; our inner core.
My nest-mate and I had the fortuitous opportunity to have lunch with a new friend. This man has been instrumental in the accomplishment of a major project for our new home in Vancouver WA. We already knew from conversations with him over the telephone that he was a man of integrity who took pride in seeing a job well-done and honoring his committments. What we learned of him over lunch was a glimpse of a man who has truly seen the Lord and lives his daily life together with his wife in a manner designed to give glory to God and thanks for the blessings he has been given. This man and his wife, from a sense of responsibility and rightness, took in to their home a child who came from a terrible home situation, came to love this little boy, and now are in the process of adopting him. His comment was so simple and so profound "we prayed over this and the decision was obvious". The quiet steadfast faith that the Lord would guide this man to live his life to glorify Him moved me. There was no question of bringing glory to himself by these actions.It is easy to look around at all the beauty that surrounds us in the seasons and say Ah, here is proof of the glory of the Lord. It is much harder to look in to the soul and find equal beauty. I do not think my soul would stand up to such a scrutiny as did the soul of this friend and his wife.