Wednesday night we arrived at our friend’s lake house to spend a few days resting, writing, and just being still. The weather was magnificent as we awoke Thursday morning to a cool, crisp, fall day. Color enveloped the lake. Yesterday, Friday, was an exceedingly warm day breaking all the records for the 2nd of November. As the day progressed and evening drew near, so did the clouds. We went to sleep last night to the drops of rain pelting the roof. This morning, the morning after the storm, it is cool. The cold air that moved in last night confronting the extremely warm air set off the most spectacular light show over the lake. The rain so dense at times that it was as if the lake had disappeared.
Looking out from my corner chair this morning it’s as if the sun is struggling to shine amidst the thin layer of clouds left behind with its reflection gleaming off just a small portion of the lake. Due to the cloud cover, it isn’t able to fully allow its rays to shine over the entire lake, as it did yesterday, set against the royal blue fall sky that sparkled like a sapphire stone. As I observed the sun this morning, I noticed that as the cloud cover thickened, the sun’s rays were blocked completely. Even less reflection on the water now. Suddenly the thicker clouds moved on and once again the sun was reflecting on a portion of the lake. My first thought was that the sun was struggling to shine through the masses of clouds, but then I realized that it wasn’t struggling, it was doing exactly what God created it to do: shine. God created it to shine, to bring light and warmth to the earth. No cloud was going to stop it from doing what God created it to do.
Then I thought, what about me? What about my life? Am I struggling amid the clouds in my life or am I shining, being who God created me to be? Am I shining in spite of the clouds? When difficulty comes is His light still shining in and through me? Does my life shine with intensity even when God sends an even thicker cloud?
Oh, the sun this morning is not struggling; it’s not struggling at all! It’s just being and doing what God created it to be and doing what God created it to do in spite of the clouds! In the past we were scheduled to take a trip. It ended up that we had to fly out that day, under thick cloud cover. I was amazed as the plane broke through the dense thickness of clouds that the sun was, as it always is, set against a royal blue sky shining so intensely that the whole world seemed to be lit up. It was as if the sun was singing the glories of God, contented to be what God created it to be, and do what God created it do. No struggling! The clouds were dense and thick that day, but they could not stop the sun from shining. What stops me from shining? Am I reflecting the beauty of the Father? Am I being who He created me to be? Doing what He created me to do?
At the lake, I looked up to see that the thick dense clouds along with the thin layer of clouds had surrendered under the intensity of the sun’s desire to shine, to be what it was created to be. What a brilliant, almost blinding, reflection over the entire lake!
Father, I often struggle. I am guilty of letting the clouds, the challenges and difficulties, that You allow in my life to dim my light. I desire to be who You created me to be and to do what You created me to do. The sun does not struggle to shine; it shines in all the glory for which You created it. Help me to shine in spite of the clouds and to be a reflection so brilliant that Your glories are proclaimed!
“For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.” Ephesians 5:8
“For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:20
“Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Mathew 13:43
dianne