I was hardly inside the front door when I first noticed them. As I took off my jacket, the colorful sparkles again caught my eye, and I visually followed a trail all the way around the entire living room. Glitter! What mother doesn’t both love and cringe at the thought of glitter?! Even though they now were laying down for an afternoon rest, I knew immediately that Kia and Josiah had been busy and engaged that morning creating some magnificent work of art.
I wasn’t entirely surprised to see the glitter all over the floor. As I rushed out the door a short time before headed to my first official Toastmaster’s meeting, Josiah wanted to know if he could make a poster and use glitter. Taking a deep breath, I hurriedly nodded “yes”, praying silently the mess wouldn’t be too awful when I got home.
Even now hours later, most surfaces still sparkle and shine with just a hint of glitter. I must be relaxing in my old age and loosening up a little because honestly, I smile when I see that sparkle, instead of worrying about getting it swept and vacuumed up. It’s not that glitter is part of my decorating scheme, but rather that the glitter reminds me of my two little boys, and what parent doesn’t love being reminded of those that they love?
As I was thinking about Kia and Josiah joyfully spreading glitter throughout the upstairs, I wondered whether I do the same. Of course I don’t spill glitter (too often!), but thought about whether I leave a little sparkle and shine behind. Can people notice when I’ve been somewhere? Do I leave places or people a little more joyful than they were before I came? Could someone recognize my involvement and smile?
My thoughts, though, were really about more than just me. They were about the Lord. How effective am I at leaving a “glitter trail” of God’s love in the situations, places and relationships in which I find myself? Can people point to my involvement in something and recognize a greater sense of God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness and justice because of my presence? Is the world a little more sparkly, a little more representative of God’s Kingdom because of the choices I make and the life I live? Does my faith leave a path of colorful “God sparkles” that others may follow? Are people’s lives changed because I’m sharing His love and truths with them?
I pray and hope the answer is “yes” to all those questions. But I also pray that I will never rest from continually spreading “God’s glitter” to those around me. Jesus once said they will know we are Christians by our love….Dear Lord, may that be true of my life!
Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.
(John 13:34-35 MSG)
So all that glitter spread throughout our upstairs may just stay there for awhile. Because now when I see it, not only do I think of my two youngest boys and smile, I’m reminded that I desire Jesus to look upon my life and smile, saying, “Well done, good and faithful glitter servant!”
