Beautiful Sunsets



There is a time in the evening that I really love. There is no time on the clock, although the weatherman will tell you in the morning what time the sun will set. Just as the sun hits the horizon, over the trees, when the western sky turns every shade in the spectrum...that is the perfect time of the day.  It only lasts a few minutes so you have to be ready for it.  And you have to be watching, waiting for it. Tonight's sunset is especially beautiful with the few clouds that are draped in the sky. 

I used to believe that the best sunsets were in the Flint Hills in Kansas.  Maybe that was because I watched them from the front porch of my grandparent's home, in the porch swing, with my grandfather. 

The sunsets in Seattle were nice, over the water of the lake, with the skyline in the background. 

They're pretty nice in the Rockies too.  Whether in the state of Colorado or further south in New Mexico and Arizona, watching the sunset over the mountains is awe inspiring. 

San Diego is beautiful at sunset.  Sitting at the open-air restaurants in Seaport Village watching the sunset over Coronado Island is pretty darned nice!

So, I guess maybe it doesn't matter where the sunset is.  It's just that it is.  Watching the sun set on another day of my life gives me pause to stop and consider the day.  Did I do what I was called to do today?  Did I make the best use of this day? Was I the best me I could be?

As the brilliant colors reflect the earth's spectrum, so too I reflect the same colors.  I am, after all, each of them. 

Depending on the time of day, I can be the flighty yellow, or the serious purple, or the deeply emotional reds. I can be the blue of the sky surrounded by all of them.  As the day progresses, I am each of these colors, sometimes over and over again.

As the final stages of the sunset touch the sky, I am the subdued shades I see in the sky.  I did my best, whatever it was.  Just as the sunset is sometimes brilliant and sometimes non-existent, covered by clouds, so to am I.

There are just a few beams of color and light on the horizon now.  Like me, this day is almost finished.  Tomorrow we'll start over again, fresh and renewed.  The colors are deep and sedate.  And then it is dark.

The morning will be here all too soon with its brilliant hues and light.  Like me, it will be fresh and ready. 

But that is another story.

Mark 6:31
… he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."