So today I start a new journal. It may seem odd but I’m using a notebook given to me some time ago by a pharmaceutical rep. It’s a nice notebook but it has stamped on the front of it the words, “Lunesta.”  Someday no one will even remember that Lunesta was a sleeping pill. The latin word “Luna” means moon so in time people will simply think the name has something to do with the moon or the night sky.

This seems appropriate for my journal.  I’ve heard it said that we Christians should be like the moon in that It doesn’t emit light of its own but reflects the light of the sun.  What light we carry in us is from God: the divine spark.  When we think we are enlightened by our own knowledge, we deceive ourselves. Who created our mind to think but God?  Some would argue this with me but it takes more faith to believe that we come from nothing, just a random occurrence, than to believe in a creator. I choose to believe we were created in the image of God. An image is a reflection-it’s not God.  But the image can become more and more like the human manifestation of God, Jesus.  It doesn’t happen in a moment but is a slow process that doesn’t end until we are given our resurrection bodies that are perfect.

Yes, perfection is a process, not a single event.  It is often painful as we are changed little by little in God’s skillful hands.  We are molded and shaped by the Master Potter.  It’s easy for me in this perfecting process to either think too much of myself or too little. I go back and forth.  God sees me as his daughter, an heir of his kingdom.  Not that I earned this title but it was gifted to me.  So I can’t boast in this accomplishment but reflect the glory of it to others around me.

I am so far from perfect.  It often seems an unobtainable dream to me.  I feel like I take one step forward and then two back. When I’m trying to change myself, it’s often fraught with discouragement. Only God can do it. He is able to transform me through the fire of his love into something beautiful.  He can do this with each one of us if we will only hand  our mess over to him.  He will then change us from one glory to the next so that in the end, we will glow as we reflect the brilliance of his Son.

Lord, make me into the person of beauty you envisioned from the beginning of time so I may reflect your glory.  I give you everything I own and everything I am.  I am yours and you are mine. Do with me as you will.