A face to shine on you

Faces. 

Standard operating equipment would be a nose, 2 eyes and a mouth. 

Hair is optional and comes in a variety of locations and configurations.

So what is there about the face of someone we love that makes it so special?

The eyes are not necessarily so much more luminous than those of the general populace.

The lips of our loved one don’t automatically issue forth more pleasant sounds.

And the nose– no matter how beloved the holder of the nose may be, the stuff it emits is just as disgusting as the nasal secretions of the rest of humankind.

There must be a filter through which we observe those closest to our hearts. 

A gauzy filter woven with affection and memories, hopes, dreams and longings. 

The filter glimmers with devotion and is edged in grace.

The filter ensures that we see the requisite features both less and more clearly.

It obscures imperfections and highlights that which delights. 

It calls attention what a great gift we have in the bearer of eyes, nose, mouth and sometimes hair that are all so special to us.

And when the faces of those we have loved are no longer before us, their features don’t dim.

The veil draws gently over painful memories while giving greater clarity to the joy that was ours when we could look into the eyes of a beloved one and hear words of sweetness from the mouth. 

The same veil that endues our loved ones with such singular beauty also obscures the one who is Most Beloved.

What delight to know that now we see Him through the veil dimly, but someday,

Face to Face.