(a Steve Orr scripture reflection)
Mrs. Maguire’s algebra class wasn’t just cool. Some days it was downright cold!
Our spritely Algebra teacher could not abide attention-drift from any student. To make certain we paid attention, she opened the windows—in the dead of winter. In our little river city, winters could be harsh. And when the wind off our two rivers came blowing up through the town? Bone-chilling.
What saved us were the radiators.
Lined up just below the windows was a row of steam-heat radiators blasting hot air into the room. You could still feel the cold air slicing in, but the radiators kept radiating enough heat to offset the worst of it.
A radiator—or “radiant” as it is sometimes called—draws its heat from a central source. Without the right energy coursing through the radiator, it could not radiate the heat we needed. If not connected to that central source, those algebra class radiators would be just so much cold metal—and no use at all in mitigating the winter chill.
In this week’s Psalm 34 selection, it says, "Look to Him and be radiant.” A person can be a radiant, a conduit for energy outflow. It certainly was true of Moses. He spent so much time in God's presence that he glowed from the exposure. Moses became a radiant.
Those radiants kept us warm that winter in Mrs. Maguire's classroom, but only because they were connected to the source, the generator of all that steam heat. What about us? Are we radiants? Are we connected to the source? Do we spend so much time in the presence of God that others cannot help but experience God's warmth and glow?
Look to Him and be radiant.
