Light infiltrates a forest. Its fingers spreading wider as it turns from spotlight to flood.
What began as just a small reveal soon illuminates everything. That’s how light works if we let it in.
Brightness beams its way into each day. We may not always see or sense it if our eyes or soul are dulled.
God sends His presence forth in rain and thunder, blaze of creation’s beauty and soft foggy breath of subdued sunlight.
There isn’t a place, space or person that can remain permanently indifferent to His penetrating, laser-light gaze.
Light will find a way to penetrate our days. The tiniest crack in the surface of things becomes an opening to grace.
“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in” – Leonard Cohen lyrics from ‘Anthem’
God loves us too much to leave us alone to stew in our situations, or become derailed by challenging circumstances.
As our loving heavenly Father, He cares tenderly and compassionately about how His children are and how we feel.
I’ve been laid low lately with increasing physical and mental health challenges. It’s still hard at times to see the positive.
Each day is a fight to choose joy. To choose hope over despair, courage to go on instead of discouragement to grind to a halt.
Being mortal can seem like a burden on days when I yearn for a life beyond the one I am living. Maybe you’ve been there too?
But God… – two of the most important words in the universe – reminds me that you and I are birthed for a reason, here for such a time as this, destined for a purpose we can barely sense or taste the fullness of even as we’re living it.
All God asks is that we allow His Light and Love admittance, one small sliver at a time, letting it warm our hearts, restore gratitude and illuminate the path before us.
As God shines His goodness and grace into our hearts we begin to see how our very weakness and brokenness, the cracks in our earthly existence, are the means by which He enters in. So there is hope for us all.
A small reveal
There’s a sliver of light
snaking through these dark
curtains of discouragement
Barely a beam can be seen
but a softening ray may
just be discernible
It’s thawing shivers of ice
Cracking the surface
of seen things, making way
for the Unseen realm
to penetrate my
feelings of overwhelm
We think we need a road
to Damascus experience
But sometimes God shines
a tiny, subdued light instead
Enough for us to see and kneel
marvelling at this small reveal
©JoyLenton2016
How is God revealing Himself to you in this season?
What helps to keep you stable in life’s storms?
Poetry Joy 
Reblogged this on Michael Moore's Blog and commented:
Love this!!
Thank you, Michael! Honoured to share my words with your readers. Bless you, friend. 🙂
Your poem is beautiful. I love that the smallest beam of light can cut through the darkness and “the tiniest crack in the surface of things becomes an opening to grace.” And those are the two most beautiful words: “But God”. Praying that you know his light giving you hope today. Glad to be your neighbour at Tell His Story.
Carly, your kind thoughts and prayers help enormously. God is slowly leading me to a place of greater light and hope. Thank you, friend! ❤
Thank you, Joy, for this encouragement that it’s through our cracks of weakness and brokenness that God shines His light into. May God shine His light into our darkness, and may we open our eyes to see it. HUGS! ❤️
Trudy, this is the key thing about God’s light: “may we open our eyes to see it”, isn’t it? We need to have hearts, minds and eyes alert to His presence, and then respond with open, receptive spirits. Bless you for this beautiful reminder. HUGS returned to you! ❤
Joy, I love the thought: “But sometimes God shines a tiny, subdued light instead, Enough for us to see and kneel marvelling at this small reveal.” It seems that in this place of slow where I am dwelling, He is letting me see just how important those small reveals really are. And I am so glad that He understands my feelings of overwhelm also! I am praying for encouragement and strength for you. *GentleHugs*
Bettie, you could be reading my mind here: “It seems that in this place of slow where I am dwelling, He is letting me see just how important those small reveals are.” Yes and Amen! We can be grateful for the myriad ways in which God infiltrates our days with His grace. And knowing how He fully understands the weakness of our human frame is such a comforting thought when we struggle with life. Thank you so much for your prayers. I am lifting you up, too, dear friend. May we both become strengthened and encouraged to live well for God within the confines of our current circumstances. Blessings and hugs! ❤
“As God shines His goodness and grace into our hearts we begin to see how our very weakness and brokenness, the cracks in our earthly existence, are the means by which He enters in. So there is hope for us all.” AMEN! Joy, I love your poem! It’s beautiful!
Gayl, I’m so pleased that you’ve found some soul solace here. Thank you for reading and appreciating my hard-wrought words stemming from life’s painful places. Bless you, friend, and fellow poet! ❤
I love that Leonard Cohen song. Light truly does get in. I’m reminded of these words “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it!”
Amen, Tara! No matter how dark our circumstances may seem, God’s light will always penetrate and overcome the darkness. I’m glad you’re also a Leonard Cohen fan! He’s a fabulous poet. Bless you, friend.
I love the images you use in this poetry. It is so true that we expect and want a road to Damascus experience when He provides that tiny sliver of light that we have to look for. Only by stillness and quiet does this light become known. Thank you for your words!
Hi Joy, thank you so much for stopping by here and at Words of Joy! It’s a lovely surprise to have returned from visiting my husband in hospital to see you have been visiting me at my blogs and leaving sweet comments. Please forgive me if I am slow to reply at my main blog. There are quite a few to answer there when I have the right focus, but I couldn’t leave you wondering when you might hear from me, hence this reply. I love how you say: “Only by stillness and quiet does this light become known” because they are wise and true words. Bless you. I hope to revisit your site once I have more energy, concentration and focus at my disposal. x
I understand lack of energy, etc. My body and I fight severe food and environmental allergies, arthritis in both knees, and asthma. IBS was in the mix until early May. I pray the probiotic continues to work. Chronic anything is certainly a challenge.
Joy, I’m sorry to hear of your health struggles. It must be very challenging and draining for you. You are right when you say. “Chronic anything is certainly a challenge” because the word ‘chronic’ itself denotes a long standing or constantly recurring condition, both of which are extremely wearying on mind and body. It definitely feels like a battle most days. Thanks for sharing your own story. I get intermittent spells of IBS and have found daily probiotics helpful. I’m also afflicted with arthritis, so I understand how debilitating and painful it can be. I am praying for you to have some respite and for the appropriate treatment to succeed in making you feel a bit stronger. Blessings.
Joy, sorry to be out of touch. We’ve just returned from a six-week sojourn. I am glad to have an updated sense of how I can “come alongside,” albeit long-distance, in prayer. May strength and the gift of equanimity guard and heal and keep you today. Ill and beset as you feel, your writing, as ever, radiates love and beauty, fills my imagination.
No problem, Laurie. As you can see, I haven’t exactly been very active here! Most of my writing has slowed down considerably recently, although I still try to write a weekly post at Words of Joy. Things are extra challenging this week because my beloved is in hospital trying to recover from spinal surgery. I not only miss him terribly, I also struggle to cope home alone with things he normally helps me with. And more energy is currently diverting to daily tasks rather than connecting via social media or blogs. It really hits home that I only have the strength and space to write when other needs are taken care of!
I’ve loved the postcard posts I’ve managed to catch on your blog. Hope your sojourn was a restful retreat for the soul. May you soon recover from the exertion of it all and find yourself reflecting poetically on the experiences you’ve had and enjoyed. God bless you, friend. It’s always lovely to see you here! Thank you for your sweet words of encouragement. x ❤
Oh dear, renewed prayers forthcoming, for you and your man (whom I so enjoyed reading about in one of your posts). May he recover well and soon, and may you continue to find the pace that suits the current challenges and opportunities. Take care, dear Joy!
Thank you, Laurie. We truly appreciate your prayers! They have made a huge difference in how we are coping with these challenging circumstances. I’m happy to report that my man is recovering well now, slow but sure. Although it seems the better he gets, the more exhausted I become. I must have been running mostly on adrenaline over the last few weeks and it’s finally dissipating as I relax. As you may have seen in my recent posts, God is calling me to a season of rest. Bless you for your kind words and thoughts, sweet friend! 🙂 x