The Glow She Didn't Know She Carried

Margaret Chen spent every Tuesday morning for eleven years visiting Ward 7 of St. Luke's Hospital in Houston. She read psalms to patients, held hands during chemotherapy, and sat quietly with the dying when their families couldn't bear to stay. She never thought much of it. It was just what she did.

When Margaret was honored at her church's annual banquet, the tributes surprised her. A nurse from the oncology floor described how patients would ask, "Is the lady with the light coming today?" A young widow recounted how Margaret had simply sat beside her husband's bed, saying nothing, and somehow the room felt different — warmer, steadier, less afraid. Margaret's own daughter told the crowd, "Mom doesn't know this, but people at the grocery store stop me to say there's something about her. They can't name it. They just feel it."

Margaret wept. She genuinely had no idea.

This is the mystery of Exodus 34. When Moses descended from Sinai, Scripture tells us his face was radiant — and he did not know it. Forty days in the presence of the Almighty had marked him in ways he couldn't see in himself. The glow wasn't something he manufactured or performed. It was the residue of proximity to the Holy One.

The same remains true for us. Time spent in God's presence doesn't always feel dramatic. But it leaves a radiance on our lives that others recognize long before we do.