Sunset Extraordinaire

I don't often get to see the sunset. I am usually either still working or already home depending on the season of the year. When I lived in Illinois, I discovered extraordinary sunrises, but New York has great sunsets. Maybe its the hilly landscape, maybe the fact that mornings tend to be overcast and it takes some time for the sun to burn off the cloud cover. Whatever the reason, sunsets can be so amazingly colorful and resplendent.

This one was all purple and gold with just a brush of pink. It made me wonder how God sees it from His side. What a wonderful sense of joy God has to have provided us with glorious colors and seasonal changes. We have had the gamut of winter/spring/summer experience in the last few days, from bitter cold and wind to warm sun.

The kids in our complex have had a heyday playing outside after a long winter. They run about with abandon, heedless of the wind, the rain, the mud, the chill. Coats are tossed aside, strewn about the lawn helter-skelter. Little girls brandish dead branches torn mercilessly from trees by the last winter storm. Skateboards, scooters and bikes are suddenly in bloom, decorating every building and townhouse. The boys are playing basketball down by the clubhouse.

Even as I drove slowly home, savoring the last few rays of sunset, I encountered diehard groups of kids at every intersection whooping and hollering, loathe to call it a night and go inside. I remember being a kid, running around outside until the last possible moment before Mom made us come in. It was a good season. I love my current season of almost-empty-nesting, of doing things I enjoy more than things I am required to do. I will love my sunset years when they arrive, appreciating their particular radiance and splendor.

For now, I take encouragement from the good Lord, realizing that final moments needn't be painful, but can be a glorious foreshadowing of the sun rising again in the morning.