April 22 | Exodus 33:12-18
DAILY READING
Exodus 33:12-18
REFLECTION
Will You Be There?
by Mary Alice McGinnis
Have you ever gotten an invitation to an exciting event? And then the next question you asked was, “Who will be there?” You really, really wanted to go, but you did not want to go alone. You may have even reached out to a friend or invited a family member to go with you. How did you feel if you discovered that no one else you knew was going to be there?
My parents were married for 71 years. For the last several years of their lives, they lived in an assisted living facility which offered events throughout the week. Singing groups, Bible studies, exercise classes, crafts and card playing. And at each event, my parents were always there together.
After my dad passed away, to say that my mom grieved and experienced extreme loneliness would be a dreadful understatement. She was inconsolable.
In the years following Dad’s death, we would encourage Mom to get out and start attending some of the special events again. We even used the promise of ice cream and cookies at the weekly ice cream social to try to lure her. But her teary-eyed response was always the same. It was as if half of herself - even part of her own identity died right along with him. Nothing felt the same without him.
In today’s reading, Moses and the children of Israel were on the precipice of entering into the Promised Land, the land God had promised would flow with milk and honey. For 40 years, God led them with His Presence through a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. Moses often went to meet with God. Upon his return to the people, an afterglow of God’s radiant glory would reflect from Moses’ face. The brilliance of God’s reflected glory was so bright, the people pleaded with Moses to cover his face with a veil.
Preceding tod