Last summer, my mom and dad let me borrow their cute little red convertible. My spirits were low and something about having the sun on my shoulders and the wind in my hair seemed therapeutic at the time. One particular evening, after a torrential rain and a terrible day, I put the top down, cranked up “A Summer Place” on the stereo, and went for a sunset drive. I looked in the sky and saw it, a gorgeous PINK sunset. I’m not sure in my entire life I ever noticed a sky so pink, so beautiful, so girly! I did what any techno-savvy, thirty-something would do in that moment of awe…I grabbed my trusty lil iPhone, took a picture, and directly sent it over the interwebs via twitter and facebook. The caption:
“I love it when God tells the sky she’s beautiful and she blushes.”
From that moment on, I’ve been consciously aware of sunsets and the evening sky. I can sit for hours and watch the watercolor effects peak and then fade until the stars and the moon appear. I often wonder if its an age thing. I really don’t remember being as mesmerized by God’s handiwork as a child. In this last year of my sunset observances, I’ve come to realize just how rare PINK sunsets really are. They don’t happen every day. So, I did a little research. Scientifically speaking, the colors of the sunset are created by the light reflected through the spectrum ( remember the prism of light – ROY G BIV we learned about in grade school science) and the angle at which the clouds cause the light to bend. Purples and blues have shorter wavelengths. Reds and oranges have longer wavelengths. As light scatters and is reflected amongst the clouds, the shorter lengths don’t travel as far and the oranges and reds show up more brilliantly. The rare pinks it seems, happen when there is more atmospheric dust kicked up by storms and pollution. These dirty particles reflect the light in all different directions and turn the sky PINK.
That got me thinking…
These beautiful pink skies….the sunsets I sit and enjoy the most – are because light is shining through a bunch of atmospheric junk. The Creator of all things could choose to present this spectacular evening light show in any fashion He chooses, and yet this is how He casts the rosiest of light upon the world.
He does the exact same thing with us. Storms happen in all of our lives. Dust gets kicked up and we’re left with a lot of atmospheric junk. When we choose to take that junk, that unsettled dust in our lives, and we allow His Light and love to filter through it, our lives suddenly become a glorious reflection of His creation and his grace. When we embrace that our mess is His message, The Way, the Truth, The Light reflects off our dirty lives and casts a rosy glow of hope to the world, REAL hope. At that moment, He looks at us and says – we. are. beautiful. I don’t know about you, but when the Creator of all the Heavens can look at me and my dirt and say that, I can’t help but blush.
“You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven”
Matthew 5: 14-16, The Message
As you read this today, I’m on my way to a conference designed to help Christian writers and speakers find their voice in sharing God’s message. I’m on a “standby list” to speak and be critiqued. I can’t really tell you how I’ve ended up with this as my summer vacation. I don’t see myself as a writer or a speaker… But I’m going. Out of faith. Only He knows why I’ll be sitting there. So, Pray I figure out why I’m there and I learn what I need to learn. Pray for my safety. I am thankful for you, my sweet friends.
Cheers and Love -
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