Light

This is the morning view from my parent's front porch.  Stunning.  Awe inspiring.  Heart-stirring.

*side note:  see the tree in the right hand  corner?  when my family moved to this house that tree was a little stick.  i remember hauling 5 gallon buckets of water to it.  my other clear memory of this tree is backing into it in my husband's truck on my sister's wedding day.  good times.  now, back to your regularly scheduled blog post.

So, 3 pictures, all on different days, all equally amazing.  I'm glad my dad sees fit to take pictures of the sunrise and post them on Facebook so I can steal use them on my blog.  

I have an amazing view of the sunrise at my house too, I just have 0 pictures to prove it.  When I look out my front windows in the morning I can see the sun coming up over the hills.  It always makes me think of this verse: 

The painter of the morning sky is my help.  The one who creates beauty for all to see is the same one who is creating beauty in me.  

That's a great thought but I'm heading down a rabbit trail.  Back to sunrises...and sunsets.

Sunset photo credit to Karen Youndt

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.  There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.  Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." ~ Psalm 19:1-4

Seeing a sunrise or a sunset never ceases to invoke praise in my spirit.  So beautiful, so stirring, so only for this world. 

 Only for this world.  

This thought occurred to me recently.  The beauty of the sunrises and sunsets is only for now.  Not for heaven.  Not for eternity.  Revelation chapter 21 says "there will be no night there."  If there is no night, no darkness, there can be no beauty of the rising or setting sun.  Revelation also says "The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp."  So, no darkness and also...no sun.

At first I felt sad.  I love to see the crazy colors of the sun in the morning.  The vibrancy of the setting sun in the evening.  No more of that in heaven?  But wait!  "the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp"  

If God can make a burning ball of gas stir so many glorious thoughts in my soul, what will happen when I see Jesus face to face?  Instant tears prick my eyes as I consider that thought.  I can only imagine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEW_xenfaz0