Lamps of God

Editor’s Note: Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly bestselling author Morgan Harper Nichols (All Along You Were Blooming) is well-loved in our community for her art, poetry, and essays. We’ve included several of Morgan’s art pieces here for you to enjoy!

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Down in the desert plain deep in the night,
the moon arrives,

filling summer’s evening sky. There, on the ground
where dust wisps around your feet, you notice sharp, brawny leaves. Now fully blooming,

the yucca flower
painting herself white, flickering outward and upward, nature’s candlelight.

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Lamparas de Dios — Lamps of God,
some say —
for during the day,
she tucks her petals
to hide from the heat,
but under evening’s brow,

she sighs and peeks out,

tender
and free
to shine ever-so brightly
when you thought she’d be asleep.

Come alive, come alive,
deep into the night,
come and dance and wave and stretch

under the moon’s loving gaze.

You stand at the base of the mountain, cold air swipes
the bridge of your nose.

High above,
in October,
it snows,
and at the same time, from where you stand, autumn burns the leaves orange and yellow.

Here in this tension there is no divide, for at the mountain there is space for ice and light to have their place.

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It is hard to notice
beauty
on the rain-shadow side of the mountain. You are thirsty for a spring,
even a hint of morning dew,
but you are overwhelmed by the desert that feels like nothingness
unraveling endlessly
inside you.

Look long,
look slow,
the shadows before you will start to grow forward.

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There is more ahead of you that you have yet to know.

The range of the mesas rise up in the distance.

Their song is in a different tongue than the mountains you once knew, but oh, how beautiful their sound. Do not be afraid

of your voice.

Excerpted with permission from How Far You Have Come by Morgan Harper Nichols, copyright Novkoa, LLC.

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Your Turn

Look up! Under the stars ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you in His still small voice. You are here because God loves you and created you for good! Taste the divine and rejoice! ~ Devotionals Daily