eclipsed

It was bitter cold on the night I took these photos. Shawn roused a sleepy, bed-headed boy from his down comforter, wrapping him in that blue coat with the warm hood he loves so much. Middle of the night blackness was lit only by the moon- a bright, full, solstice moon. We waited and watched as it darkened and turned red.

In the shadow of us, it turned red.

It is Advent, a year later, and I see it now more clearly than I did as I watched that night, sleepy, huddled beneath a frosty window. I see that in that moment, in that great black sky, in that once in a lifetime event, a glorious story was being re-told.

And it's my story too... I am huddled at the foot of a cross, where the shadow of my cold, sin-laden heart darkens the pure and beaten body of the One bearing my shame. His covering blood runs red. When it is finished, the Light again breaks through. And in His new life, I have new life. 

White to black to red to white again.

A once in a lifetime-for all time event that began with the birth of a tiny baby King, like a silent moon rising in the black night sky.

Advent (Day 6)

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{Please join me each day until Christmas at There is a River with my sister, Christie Purifoy, as she shares beautiful thoughts, poetry, and prayers for Advent against a backdrop of the images you will see here. You are also invited to contribute your own photos to the Advent Flickr group. If you are not a photographer, we hope you will still join both of us there to watch as the season quietly unfolds in pictures.}