Caught in glorious light.

​My house is built on the side of a hill. You walk in the front door and through the loungeroom to the kitchen, where you look out, directly east, across the tops of the trees. In the afternoons, as the sun sets in the west, the house and the trees in our front yard cast shadows over the view from our kitchen. We look out over the dulling colours of the day, waiting as everything visible sinks into dusk. 
One time, as I stared out at the fading sky and shadowed trees, a cluster of cockatoos flew past. I caught my breath at their beauty.

For while the rest of the world beyond my window was cast in growing shade, the cockatoos' flight remained in the light. As they flew, the setting sun threw pink and gold favor over their feathers. They glowed like beacons against the muddy sky, defying the darkness not by any glory of their own, but because they were caught in the glorious light of the sun!
I wonder whether, as we make our way through this life of shadows, our lives could possibly light up like that. Glaringly beautiful and defying the dark. Caught in the mercy and majesty of the glorious Son.   ​