The Most Missed Miracle
The alarm clock goes off. 5:30 am. I check the thermometer. 30 degrees even. It's a perfect day to climb Pinnacle Mountain.
I slip on my warmest clothes and wake up my sleepiest friends, and we all jump in the car. We meet some more friends at the base of the mountain, and we begin our climb to the top by headlamp, our breath forming little puffs of cloud in the freezing air. We laugh and joke all the way to the top, partly because its too early to be awake and partly because normal people don't climb Pinnacle when its this dark and cold.
We get to the top just in time to see the horizon turning a rich, firey orange - the kind that only God can paint. We get the water boiling just in time to sip hot chocolate as we watch the sun rise over Little Rock, glowing on the Arkansas River, illuminating the fall colors on the trees, and lifting the fog from the valleys.
And I am reminded again that I just do not watch the sunrise often enough.
There is something magical and mysterious about the sunrise. I bet it is the most missed miracle, the most commonly ignored phenomenon. It happens every day, and we sleep right through it. Colors are created from the darkness, light bursts through the coldness, and the world changes. It awakens and comes to life - all with the ever-faithful coming of the sun.
The sunrise is not some haphazard occurence that just so happens to be pretty every now and then; it is meticulously planned and calculated, an amazing result of the balance of forces and movements in the galaxy. Even more stunning than the science behind every sunrise is a God who designed it and picks out its clouds and colors every morning. God, who is beautiful and faithful. How can I show my children every day that I am beautiful and faithful? I will make the sun rise.
God uses the sunrise to remind me - to remind us - that He still causes light to break through darkness. He still breathes life and warmth into what was stone cold and dead. His mercies are new every morning, and He is as faithful as the sunrise. He is beautiful, and the rising of his presence brings out the beauty in our world. He is always working wonders day after day, even when we sleep right through what he is trying to show us.
Sunrises don't only happen at 6:00 in the morning. If we pay attention, our eyes will be opened to a multitude of sunrise moments. Sometimes it comes in the form of a song, a song about Amazing Grace that brings tears to your eyes because you can feel the presence of God entering the room and bringing light to darkness. Sometimes it comes in the form of a coffee-shop conversation with a friend who is finally beginning to see hope in the middle of her despair. Sometimes it comes in the form of a picture, like it did for me this week when I received the photograph of a precious African family who has prepared a room for me and agreed to host me so that I won't feel so alone when I move to a foreign place.
In those moments, I sense the sun rising and shining on my face, and I feel warmth on the tip of my nose and in the depths of my heart. Darkness scatters, the world around me comes to life, and I know for a fact once again that Jesus is as faithful as the sunrise.
I slip on my warmest clothes and wake up my sleepiest friends, and we all jump in the car. We meet some more friends at the base of the mountain, and we begin our climb to the top by headlamp, our breath forming little puffs of cloud in the freezing air. We laugh and joke all the way to the top, partly because its too early to be awake and partly because normal people don't climb Pinnacle when its this dark and cold.
We get to the top just in time to see the horizon turning a rich, firey orange - the kind that only God can paint. We get the water boiling just in time to sip hot chocolate as we watch the sun rise over Little Rock, glowing on the Arkansas River, illuminating the fall colors on the trees, and lifting the fog from the valleys.
And I am reminded again that I just do not watch the sunrise often enough.
There is something magical and mysterious about the sunrise. I bet it is the most missed miracle, the most commonly ignored phenomenon. It happens every day, and we sleep right through it. Colors are created from the darkness, light bursts through the coldness, and the world changes. It awakens and comes to life - all with the ever-faithful coming of the sun.
The sunrise is not some haphazard occurence that just so happens to be pretty every now and then; it is meticulously planned and calculated, an amazing result of the balance of forces and movements in the galaxy. Even more stunning than the science behind every sunrise is a God who designed it and picks out its clouds and colors every morning. God, who is beautiful and faithful. How can I show my children every day that I am beautiful and faithful? I will make the sun rise.
God uses the sunrise to remind me - to remind us - that He still causes light to break through darkness. He still breathes life and warmth into what was stone cold and dead. His mercies are new every morning, and He is as faithful as the sunrise. He is beautiful, and the rising of his presence brings out the beauty in our world. He is always working wonders day after day, even when we sleep right through what he is trying to show us.
Sunrises don't only happen at 6:00 in the morning. If we pay attention, our eyes will be opened to a multitude of sunrise moments. Sometimes it comes in the form of a song, a song about Amazing Grace that brings tears to your eyes because you can feel the presence of God entering the room and bringing light to darkness. Sometimes it comes in the form of a coffee-shop conversation with a friend who is finally beginning to see hope in the middle of her despair. Sometimes it comes in the form of a picture, like it did for me this week when I received the photograph of a precious African family who has prepared a room for me and agreed to host me so that I won't feel so alone when I move to a foreign place.
In those moments, I sense the sun rising and shining on my face, and I feel warmth on the tip of my nose and in the depths of my heart. Darkness scatters, the world around me comes to life, and I know for a fact once again that Jesus is as faithful as the sunrise.
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