Overshadowed

I've always thought shadows seem forbidding and perhaps a little scary. But a wise man recently gave me a new appreciation for a life lived in the deepest, yet safest shadow.

Acts 2:15-16 " As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed."

It wasn't Peter's shadow that healed those gathered there that day. It was God's shadow over Peter that had the power. Peter was overshadowed by the Great Physician.

As the Psalmist cries out in chapter 63, "Because you are my help, I will sing in the SHADOW of your wings."

How I want to be that chick under God's wings...deep in the cool safety and life-protecting shadow. I want the shadow of my life to bring emotional and spiritual healing to those needy around me like Peter's did. To do that, I must be overshadowed. And I can't be overshadowed if I am out on my lonesome under the blazing sun. Grasping for God substitutes in a sun-scorched land is like seeking the shade of a thick tree, only to find a toothpick shadow. Instead God painted a picture of himself as a full-figured hen with wide wings and a loving disposition. He moves to meet us and isn't rooted like a tree. He longs to gather us snug against his soft feathers. As the Son/Sun of our universe, he is the ultimate Shadow Giver. He is Life. He is Hope. He is Sufficient for our every need. He is loving towards all he has made.

That's whose shadow I get to live under. Wowie.