[catch fire]

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;

As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;

Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:

Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;

Selves—goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,

Crying What I do is me: for that I came.

I say more: the just man justices;

Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;

Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is—

Christ—for Christ plays in ten thousand places,

Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.

-- Gerard Manley Hopkins

Language like this, so rich and exquisite, is nothing less than art. Hopkins paints us an immediate picture of color on fire, gleaming with the depth of flames, as light hits the kingfisher bird and the dragonfly. Next is the ringing of bells, and the plucking of instrumental strings. What is a silent bell? No bell at all. A bell is not a bell, an instrument is simply not an instrument, until it is brought to life by the hand that holds it.

Every living creature has a yearning desire that they cannot avoid: to express their very essence, to be brought to life for the world to see. "Crying what I do is me: for that I came." The man whom Christ dwells inside, plays Christ himself to the world. He is brought to life by the Spirit that lives inside him. The man without Christ inside Him, living through Him, is nothing, for his life is like the muted bell, serving no purpose and therefore never truly recognizing or understanding his own significance or essence.

But the man whose flame is lit, whose bell is tolled, by the Mighty Hand that holds it...now he is a radiant treasure, glowing and overflowing with something greater than his own kindness, or beauty, or honor. A work of art can be awed and cherished and recognized for its beauty, but the praise can't be given to the painting itself. It is the gifted eye and the hand of the artist that we marvel at. You are a work of art, and a beautiful one. But the painter chose your colors: He saw and spoke your beauty into existence before the world could see it. The glory is His.

We are the faces of Christ. He is offering to dwell inside of us and consume us. "...So that Christ will make his home in our hearts." Ephesians 3:17. What is it that's holding us back from this great leap? Fear? Pride? Check both for me. My prayer is that we will catch fire from the inside out, like the kingfisher bird, the dragonfly. That the Spirit would come dwell in us and shine so brilliantly that we would become the face of Jesus to the world. I don't know what this looks like yet. But if the purpose of the bell is to ring, then I'd say that we need to pray relentlessly that God would show us the unique purpose He has designed for each of us, so that we can serve the kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven. And when we see and pursue that custom-made task...we will for the first time become who we were created to be. And we will shine. :-)