Haiti has some of the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises I’ve ever seen. I know I say things like that a lot… but we have been blessed by these amazing gradients in the sky, complete with glowing clouds that press down from overhead and towering pillars of vapor that drop rain in vast amounts over the Caribbean, along with the perfect place to watch these events: the rooftop of the guesthouse here at Mission of Hope. I snag every chance I can get to run up to the rooftop from dinner as I sense the sunlight turning from its scorching white heat into a shining gold and then a glowing orange. I’ve also made the decision to wake up an hour earlier than I need to every single day from Launch until the end of the Race in order to spend more focused time with God… which means I spend that hour on the rooftop in the “quiet” (barring roosters’ crows and goats’ bleating, among other animal noises) and get to see the sun rise over the mountains. I’m amazed every time (and am probably spoiled for the rest of my life).
I’ve stopped taking pictures of the sunrises and sunsets because you actually cannot capture it on a camera and I wanted to stop missing moments. (And I was frustrated by trying to edit those photos to replicate what I saw and felt but… nope.) But it was through photography that I first began to really appreciate nature for its beauty, and it was through photography that I began to connect nature with God and worship Him because of what He has created. I’ve become obsessed with colors and light because of it.
With this heightened awareness of colors and light, clearly sunrises and sunsets affect me at a pretty deep level. I’m hesitant to say “spiritual” because I never really grasped what that meant, but I have an inkling that I’m coming to understand that. One of my goals for the World Race is to understand more about how God relates to me personally and what it means to come into His presence, and that’s all quite “spiritual”. So every morning, I’ve sat on that rooftop trying to be “spiritual”… whatever that means. I channel a playlist of worship songs through my earbuds, pray through a Psalm, read a chapter of a devotional book, ask for God to reveal something to me, and… sit there and wait. Or at least sit there as well as I can. It’s hard for me to be still and wait for very long.
One morning close to the end of this month, I looked up from my bowed-head-attempting-to-clear-my-brain position and saw the most brilliant, vibrant gradient I’ve ever seen in the sky. It seemed like from that rooftop, perched on the side of a mountain, I could reach up to the sky and the colors would be only the smallest bit out of reach. (I wonder what solid colors would feel like.) I knew at that moment that God had put those colors there for me to see. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Here’s an excerpt from my journal:
The colors of the sunrise are spectacular today. Well, many days. But especially today. Fiery orange through yellows to an almost white shade of green to the brightest blue I think I’ve ever seen in the sky. I was listening to Set a Fire and… I wanted that fire in my heart, but of the colors I saw in the sky. I told God I wanted those colors, that fire, that vibrant gradient, in my heart. Metaphors everywhere. I thought I was being somewhat extravagant. But it seemed like He was impressing on me – you think this is crazy? You think you’re taking this too far? I made you sensitive to these colors. I’m giving you these colors. And because you doubt, I want you to know that I’m making you more beautiful than the sky will ever be. You see these colors and you can’t imagine anything brighter or softer or smoother or more extravagant – but My palette is not limited. Let me paint you with My colors in My image. You are Mine, and you are worth so much more than the sky.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
– Psalm 8:1, 3-4
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this same post on my tumblr
