Radiant

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. Mark 9:2-8

After a night of very dense fog, we walked around in fog most of the day until the sun finally won out and sent the fog packing. For several hours, visibility was down to a few feet and familiar objects looked odd and unfamiliar. Sometimes they disappeared altogether. Traveling over the low bridge that spans the canal, I could not see the canal at all, and if I had been walking near the quiet water, may have tumbled in. When the fog finally lifted the beauty and brilliance of our world was restored - the trees blossoming all over and the forsythia in yellow glorious full bloom. We are often in a fog, in our walks in life, thinking we are seeing the whole picture and making judgements based on what is in our short view, without ever understanding or seeing the long view.

On the mountain top, the disciples got a glimpse of the bigger picture. They had a moment of understanding and seeing Jesus in his fullness and in relationship to the faith leaders who had come before. They saw for the first time his intimacy with God, his visible kinship with the Creator and his absolute familiarity with the family of God. He was among his own. This moment, this vision of transfiguration, this true vision of who Jesus was and is, was a picture the would remember and need on the hard road ahead to Jerusalem. And we too, in our darkest moments need visions of our true selves, the whole beloved child of God that stumbles from time to time, but is radiance with love beyond measure.

Today, as we walk tall and straight or bent over in pain, may we remember that we are children of a living God, embedded in a family of love and surrounded by pillars of faith. We are not along on the driest mountain top nor when we are knee deep in mud. When we are feeling most stuck and alone, may we remember who our family is and that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, shouting God's love to us through the fogs of life.