Fragile like glass...

We humans are fragile creatures. One little virus, and we are sneezing and sick. One little blow, and a bone breaks. Put a little bacteria in our food, and we are incapacitated. It doesn’t take much to break us. We are like glass, needing to be protected and treated with care.

Like glass, we have different uses. If you coat the back of a piece of glass with silver, you have a mirror. No matter how much scrubbing you do to the front of that piece of coated glass, you will never be able to see through it. Like a life coated with sin, its use becomes limited.

A piece of glass that is tinted with color is a different thing. You can still see through it, but everything takes on the hue of the stain the glass is colored with. The sun can shine through it, casting its color around a room, and creating a thing of beauty. A life that is stained with the blood of Jesus likewise colors the circumstances it finds itself in. It creates a thing of beauty.

Which are you? Are you a mirror, reflecting the sin and sadness of the life you find yourself in? Or are you a piece of stained glass, allowing Jesus to shine through you, creating a place of peace and beauty?

When I was in New York City a few years ago I visited St. Peter’s Cathedral. All sides of the sanctuary there are decorated with the most beautiful stained glass windows. As the sun shines, the combined effect of the millions of small pieces of colored glass is stunning. The pieces together tell the story of the life of Jesus.

Each one of us alone can shine with the love of God, to the glory of God. But together with the rest of the Body of Christ, we become something spectacular. Together, we tell the story Jesus’s love for the world we live in, of his sacrifice, his death and resurrection, and his continuing work today.

What kind of glass are you? Do you reflect the sadness of this world? Or is Jesus shining through you, creating beauty?