A Light From Within

A glow from within. Yellow Christmas cactus.
(Click picture to enlarge)

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within." ~ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Last fall, Mom and Dad made one of their "all day go to the doctor then eat out and go to Sam's" excursions and came home with the usual mass quantities of paper towels and toilet paper and huge jars of condiments that will take longer than the shelf life for us to use. She also brought in a wimpy looking Christmas cactus with one or two blooms and said, "This is supposed to be a yellow Christmas cactus." It was hard to tell from the blooms present at the time. So we put it out in the sunroom next to the tray of orchids and the small regular "red" Christmas cactus and we waited. Just after the first of the year, both started putting out small buds and in a few weeks, both were blooming; in fact they bloomed almost continuously through Easter and on into May. Sure enough, her Sam's special is yellow... a pale creamy yellow and when the early morning sun from the eastern exposure hits a bloom just right it seems to glow from within.

I know people like this... those that glow from within. They are able to meet tragedy with equal grace as they do triumph and they wear the joy and peace of God on their faces. An elderly lady in our church recently lost her husband of many years but she still has that quiet assurance that she will be with him again someday and she not only "carries on" but loves life. She glows from within.

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