Did anyone see them last night? I have plans to go again tonight, but I saw the night-before-the-fourth version too. It was a very good 16 minute firework display (somebody told me that's how long they lasted...interesting that you'd be timing that sort of thing). During the presentation, my kids kept yelling "Smiley Face!" It took a second before I caught on to the grinning explosions, but they were by far the most impressive...except for the huge "cascading" one that seemed to light the 9:14PM sky so bright I could see clear across the next hill...or the spiraling one that looked like somebody had set a bunch of giant house flies on fire. Come to think of it, they were all pretty cool...each seeming to have their own "personality". But only one inspired this blog. It was a little red one that, to be honest, my first thought was..."dud". You could hear the shot as it was fired...see it making it's solo flight into the night...but when it exploded, it was so small, it's ho-hum "rocket red-glare" paled in comparison to the "big boys" of the show. One of the kids said, "That wasn't a very good one."...they had a point, but for some reason I kept watching...and watching..and watching...and as it returned to the earth below, I noticed that it's glare, although not nearly as spectacular, lit the sky far longer than any of the other more impressive flares. And that's where it's true beauty rested ...in it's enduring light. In Matthew 5:16, Jesus calls us to light the darkness so that He may be glorified. Some "lights" that believers shine in this world are by human standards more "impressive" than others as they do the "smiley faces" and "cascades" that we so love to applaud. But Jesus' standard is different...lighting the darkness is what is beautiful in His sight, and His eyes never leave those who are doing just that. II Chronicles 16:9 says this, "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him..." I praise God for the life-lights that shine like stars in the universe for His glory...the ones that burn bright...and the ones that burn long.