1/25/14
God called the light “day,”
and
the darkness he called “night.”
And there was evening,
and there was morning
and there was morning
—the first day.
Genesis
1:5
Many people classify themselves as a morning or night person. I have wavered between the two, at different points in my life. When I was young, I loved sleeping late; and relished a chance to stay up way past my bedtime. This morphed into my single adult life, when going out for the evening did not start until 11:00 p.m.
Marriage and Motherhood changed this, as my babies
sleep-schedule became mine. Enjoying the
quiet morning time, I welcomed the morning sun with my infant daughter, and two
years later, my son. Watching the
growing light reveal the shadowy places in neighborhood, slowly turning the
dark shapes in the living room back into the familiar furnishings of our home.
The promise of a new day. Sunlit or filled with misty clouds;
daybreak means God’s grace flows to us once again. Birds everywhere call out to one another,
celebrating a new day of flight.
Wonderful mornings, where just a small piece of a rainbow
appears in the sky, just ahead; showing me the way I need to go. A band of color that leaves me awestruck with
wonder, especially when there has been no sign of rain. How can I not be filled with joy?
I enjoy the late-night sky as well. Seeing the phases of the moon and shifting
stars change from night to night, week to week, season to season. Their brightness defying the darkness. Allowing me to witness God’s splendor, as one
star shoots across my line of sight, just as I turn my head as if called by
name. I relish those silent symphonies
of light, a gift of love from My Heavenly Father.
These moments fill my heart, again and again. Perhaps this love will sustain me when
earthly facts shake my world again and I find myself stranded between pain and
fear. I want to build a prayer-life that
reflects the ways God shows His love to us.
Day and night and the times in-between.
The times we can miss, while we are busy trying to hold on for a few
more moments of sleep, or just a little more daylight. We can miss the Blue Hour.
In French,
“L'heure bleue”, is the
time when the light is shifting, when everything seems slightly hazy, and
tinged with a blue that seems to flow from everything. The edges of day and
night, when the air itself it filtered through nature’s most romantic lens. Sunrise bringing definition to things, sunset,
softening the sharp edges, creating a kindness of sorts to my perspective of
the world.
These moments remind me that our lives are constantly changing,
and we are unaware of the many possible outcomes. This is when God and His angels are needed
most, when we are oblivious to the transitions that could lead to glory or plunge
us into disaster.
So now, I will look for The Blue Hour whenever I can. To give thanks for where I am and to pray for
the wisdom to hold on to the Lord through whatever is coming.
“ And
God said, “
Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from
the night,
and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and
years,
and let them be lights in the vault of the
sky to give light on the earth.”
And it was so.
God
made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day
and the lesser light
to govern the night.
He also made the stars. God
set them in the vault of the sky
to give light on the earth, to
govern the day and the night,
and to separate light from darkness. And God saw
that it was good.
And there was
evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.”
Genesis 1:15-19
Written by
Lynda Kinnard
