Surprised by Light
surprised by light,
it burrows through drape fibers,
casts silver threads upon my pillow,
brushes my eyelids
with soft white feathers —
surprised by daybreak,
the pink and amber sky,
the robin’s first song,
rejoicing —
surprised
by gladness.
D. G. Vachal © 2025
Image by Susanne Nilsson, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The Years, My Friend
The years, my friend, have not been kind
upon your marble face —
I hear the river songs
tinkle with the cymbals,
I see your eyes shrivel
like unpicked grapes on the vine,
your mouth a wounded cherry
pecked by restless robins.
Take my hand, my friend,
let us go to the calling fields
that blaze with diamonds
under the eternal skies,
to the orchards in the midst of winter,
where leafless branches stand dauntless
in the endless cold,
telling jubilant tales
in the blizzard of their days —
Hearken to the legends
of root, of bud, of sun,
and to the promise
(believe the promise)
that warmth and springtime
will return,
(they always return)
once again.
by D. G. Vachal © 2013, 2025
*** Photography by Farhad
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:44-45
The second of the two commandments of Jesus is to love our neighbor as ourselves. The definition of “neighbor” is all-encompassing: it includes our enemies, for Jesus asserts that we should also love them. What was His reasoning? So that we may become the children of the Father in heaven.
How are we to carry out this kind of love? We are to be as children, imitating their Heavenly Father, Whose love is unconditional, and even undeserved: One Who makes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
What kind of love is it? It is an absolutely disinterested, impartial love, one that does not depend upon the qualities of the object of this love, but in spite of it. And this is the kind of love we are to have towards our neighbor, too, and yes, even towards our enemies: those who are arrayed against us, who curse and hate us, those who despitefully use and abuse us.
As Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains it: “The whole secret of living this kind of life is that man should be utterly detached. He must be detached from others in the sense that his behavior is not governed by what they do. But still more important, he should be detached from himself, for until a man is detached from himself, he will never be detached from what others will do to that self. ” For as long as a man or woman is living for self, he or she will always be sensitive and reacting to what others will do towards oneself, therefore, “the only way to detach yourself from what others do to you is to detach yourself from yourself.”
Hence our treatment of others must not be dependent on how they treat us, or how they are towards us, but rather, dictated by how we view them and their condition. Instead of reacting to their negative treatment, our actions toward them are to be governed by the principle of love: to understand that their attacks towards us either are due to the basic imperfection and failings of human nature, and/or perhaps influenced by the god of this world; therefore, we are to pray for them.
Detachment from self, dying to self, takes supernatural grace, and the good news is that it is possible for a Christian to carry out this kind of love by living his or her life in Christ. For in Him, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are a new creation who can live in this present evil world at a higher level, belonging to a different kingdom, the kingdom of God.
D. G. Vachal © 2012, 2025
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3
Life in this world is temporary and limited, but there is a life different from the mere existence that most human beings can comprehend. It is an amazing life, and it can be said that the reason the Son of God came into the world was to offer this kind of life to those who believe in Him. It is the gift of a life that lasts forever, measured not simply by its duration, but by its intense and distinctive quality.
Eternal life brings us into fellowship with God. Into this life are given the exceeding great and precious promises of God, enabling us to be partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). When we are born again through faith in Christ, we do not simply become “better persons”; we share and participate in the very life and nature of God: we are in God, and God is in us, a mystical conception and a reality that is staggering to the human mind.
It is a life of purpose, sharing in God’s interests and objectives, whereby we become partners in God’s great plan of salvation for the world. We feel God’s grief over sin and see evil as a real force that manipulates the lives of mankind in their enmity against God. Hence we live to push forward the kingdom of light against the kingdom of darkness.
God becomes very real to us. We are steadily aware and certain of His presence. It is a life of communion with God and knowing Him as our Father, recognizing that we are never alone because God is constantly with us and that our lives are in His hands.
Eternal life is knowing God. What could be more amazing than that?
* Reference: Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Fellowship With God, Crossway Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1993, pp. 56-85
D. G. Vachal 2012, 2025
* Photography: Sunrise by Knowles Gallery @ Flickr cc
“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24
In the midst of a frenzied afternoon at work today, I paused to read an email from my daughter Amy:
“I’ve been thinking about this quote a lot lately: “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” The last two words, “in it”, are what have me thinking. The phrase makes it seem like it’s a special place – a porcelain cup, specially made, specially prepared – to rejoice, to revel, to live fully in — when you are in something like a cup of tea, surrounded.”
Any given second, any given breath, we are within the walls of a day. We can’t see tomorrow – and so we can only treat it with what we can’t see – with hope (but how great is our hope when we think about Jesus)? We see only today, and our hands, and our feet, and our loved ones, and whatever else God has given us for today. “
What Amy wanted to tell me is that today is not only a special time, but a unique and wondrous place designed by God for us to live and breathe in.
The porcelain teacup of today.
I smile at the thought of today and of pink porcelain cups.
D. G. Vachal (c) 2012, 2025
lilies, sparrows and grass 
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