THE GIFT
God gave me a special gift when I lost my daddy.

The night before Daddy's funeral service, I returned home from the funeral home exhausted from a day of tears and sadness.  As I stepped out of the car, I looked up into the night sky, and there blazing from north to south was the most beautiful, brilliant shooting star I have ever seen.  It seemed so close, I felt like I was witnessing some miraculous event.  I could only stand and stare as I watched it disappear from sight.  Of the five other people in the car with me, only one, Lauren, the youngest granddaughter saw it.  She confirmed that what I had seen was real and not just the product of my exhaustion and grief.  Me, the oldest daughter and Lauren, the youngest grandchild, were privy to the glory of God that night. 

For me that shooting star represented my daddy's life; beautiful, brilliant, blazing with the fire of God.  Our lives, too, are like shooting stars.  God breathes into us his life and we are set ablaze.  We journey through this life from our birth until our death.  Some of us burn brightly, some are only glowing faintly, and some have no light at all.  For all of us though, our lives are over in a moment, and we are only a memory.  Those who burn brightly, like my Daddy, do so because God's glory is poured into their hearts by the Holy Spirit through Christ Jesus and that makes all the difference in a person's life. 

God was living in my Daddy and God's presence brings light and knowledge; it brings direction and hope; it brings peace and love.  What about you, are you filled with God's presence?  Does your life look like a shooting star, blazing a trail of light, hope, and love across a starry night sky?

"Ye are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."  Matthew 5:14-16