It was not quite 6 AM that Sunday, but I was already awake (and not just because Hunter was calling outside my door). I was reading in the living room when brightness in the east caught my eye. The sunrise was sending a beautiful herald of dawn. For many minutes the color grew, filling first one ribbon of cloud and then another, all in that lovely peachy-pink. I couldn’t look away. And then, just as it was touching the third ribbon, it suddenly faded, returning everything to gray.
Ah, well, I thought, it was nice while it lasted. I resumed reading.
But a few minutes later, the color was back, now a bright pale gold. It grew this time until the sun cleared the horizon with a flourish, and the sky became all blue and white. Day had come.
Wow! I thought. I looked at the other houses. Windows were dark, blinds closed. Yet the sun held its performance anyway, for beauty’s sake alone. I was in awe: what a gift! And I could have missed it!
A gift is something given voluntarily to show favor toward someone, something bestowed without its being earned. The Bible says:
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from
the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:17 Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
Not just what we ask for or recognize, but all good and perfect things. Even when we aren’t looking. Even if no one is looking. Now I was wondering what other amazing things I’d missed.
Then I thought, the only thing between the two “sunrises” was the clouds. They moved in the way, and then out of the way. But without them, the sun would have had nothing to paint. So who am I to say clouds shouldn’t be there as a necessary part of the picture, in the sky – or in my life?
So that Sunday I watched God bring the day. And I celebrated both sun and clouds. Because God’s abundant gifts of beauty are given freely and without charge. To all of us.
Each day offers us the gift of being a special occasion if we can simply learn that as well as giving, it is blessed to receive
with grace and a grateful heart. – Sarah Ban Breathnach