Shine 

A dozen years ago, my friend Linda introduced me to the practice of polishing silver during penitential seasons of the church year. This weekend, thanks to the kindness of my friend and fellow writer Deborah Hining (whose books you might like!), my children got to experience this practice firsthand.   

We started with tarnish. Can you see your face in the surfaces? We could not. When God looks at us, do we reflect the image of God?
  

What happens when we clean a patch of the tarnish off? This is how repentance works. Changing habits reveals more and more of the brightness.

It was hard work, but we saw our faces.