Day and Night Skies and The Blue Hour

1/25/14

God called the light “day,” 

and the darkness he called “night.” 

And there was evening, 
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