Reflections from a Golden Morn
Last month I traveled to Tom’s Place in the Sierra to celebrate the Centennial of Riters visiting Rock Creek. Back in 1925, Dad traveled up the washboard dirt road of 395, and 100 years later I drove my F150 the 300 miles up the paved highway. The fishing, while very good, didn’t match earlier years, but memories and retracing his steps again brought joy to my soul. Sleeping in the Ford’s bed found me tossing and turning, and looking out the window prompted this. Hope you like it.
A faint lessening of darkness to the east
a mere blur, a suggestion that night will pass
the horizon not yet revealed by the sun
dim shapes appear
the ridge of the White Mountains
the ghostly hint of a pine by my truck
Then
the first direct light
introduces the green needles
and red-brown beauty
of that Ponderosa pine
May your light
bring colors to my mundane world
We all see and experience a lot of darkness, and life can seem flat and blah. Most Americans, on both the left and right, share concerns about the direction of our country. Our decisions, and the decisions of others and chance, bring losses into our lives. We find it easy to give up hope. And yes, we know the cliché that every day life starts fresh, that God does bring light. But two different slants came to mind.
First, our life following Jesus brings blessings, “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of” (John 10:10 Message). Not necessarily that all goes easy, but God blesses us beyond our imagination in the midst of darkness and evil. Watching that dawn, I realized that light brings colors we just cannot see in darkness. What looked like a spooky ghost in the dim light before dawn showed its reality when the light flooded in: a beautiful and majestic Ponderosa pine.
Maybe we need to look for what the light reveals. We can choose to look at life more often through God’s perspective than our own or society’s.
Also, we choose to enjoy life. We look for the good, experience it, and celebrate God’s gracious gifts. I appreciate Solomon’s advice “Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil” (Ecclesiastes 9:7-8).
Sometimes I joke that if an act brings great pleasure, it must be sinful; delicate sarcasm directed at those who think Christians should be professional lemon suckers. God wants us to enjoy life, to appreciate the pleasures he gifted us with. Yes, limits exist; yes, we sacrifice: yes, pleasure isn’t the goal of life. But let God’s light shine and reveal beauty, and enjoy.
Kick Starting the Application
Do you trend to being negative or positive? Why? Did those verses from Ecclesiastes bother you a little? Should they have?