Bright

"Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above," Daniel 12:3.

How bright will they shine? As bright as the skies. And who's gonna shine? The wise. And what makes the wise wise? Ah. Well. That's the tricky part. Doesn't mean that God is tricky, but that God's in the details. And what makes for wisdom here does not fit with just gaining some kind of mystical or esoteric knowledge. So. The wise are those whose names are written in the book. (That's what it says.) Book? What book? The book of truth. It holds the names of the purified. And how did they get purified? When Daniel wrote those words, nobody knew. But the book at the end of the Bible tells how: They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

With a brother or sister today we remember when scarlet stains deadened our lives; but we were washed, sanctified, justified in the name of Christ by the Holy Spirit. And, together, we give thanks in hope of shining forever.