Yesterday morning I saw the most glorious sunrise. When I first went out, there was rain. Clouds were moving by quickly. The sun was just peeking over the mountain. Then the clouds covered it again. As I was about to give in to a dreary day, the clouds parted and the sun burst through. It was so bright it was blinding. It was the most beautiful shade of gold, like a precious offering prepared for a King.
As I basked in its warmth I tried to take in all the colors of the world that it lit up. I had to cover my eyes and turn away from looking directly at the sunrise. It was too much. So many shades of green, orange, yellow, red, blue.....Yes, I thought to myself, "What a wonderful world."
Then I started thinking about it. The sun had been there the whole time. It was moving just like it was supposed to. The clouds had gotten in the way, shading its brilliance. And I had to think about Jesus. He's there all the time. We put so many things between ourselves and him, keeping him from lighting our lives and showing the beauty of what he has given us. The color of our lives. We live in the gray too much of the time.
Why do we do it? It is because we can't stand the light and the things that it reveals? Don't we like to hold on to our little, secret (or not so secret) sins? If we are walking in the light like we are supposed to, those things would be revealed. We would have to admit them. We want to shade them and pretend they aren't there. We like the shadows that comes when we cover the light.
The Bible says, God is the light of the world, and in him there is no darkness as at all. No darkness at all. And Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." No shadows in which to hide.
This afternoon is beautiful. The sky is the perfect shade of blue. The grass is green and freshly mown. The trees are swaying gently in the breeze. Even some of the flowers I planted last year have come back up and are so pretty in my yard. The cows are milling around in the shade. The birds are singing sweetly. I am sitting here enjoying it all. And loving it!
I am convicted, though, that I love looking at the world this way, but I don't allow the Light of the World to invade my thoughts, actions, attitudes, and speech. I pull the blinds down and try to hide. It's much prettier and easier to watch the light shine somewhere else while I sit in the shade sipping my sweet tea. So, I confess to you publically that I will be raising the blinds I have pulled over my heart and allowing the light of Jesus to shine in and reveal things to me. Things I have hidden away from myself and maybe even from you, but never from Him. Things I need to change, and things I need to work on. Things I need to do, and things I need to stop doing.
Will you join me? Will you start allowing the light into your life today?
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