There's Just Something about a Sunset

There's just something about a sunset, isn't there?  Especially when seen across the waters.  Whatever waters!  I took this picture when I was in Maine last month on retreat, and its beauty shines across Boothbay Harbor, which opens out into the North Atlantic.  But sunsets over the retention pond that our lanai overlooks here at our condo in Florida can be equally inspiring!

Sunrises have a similar effect--at least on me!  Maybe for slightly different reasons.  A sunset puts a seal on the day just ending.  It seems to say, you worked hard, well done!  Now, take a break, you've earned the rest.  Whereas a sunrise promises a fresh start, a new day, a new opportunity to make a difference in the world.

Both sunrises and sunsets, though,, are also reminders that though this is an often troubled world, it is still a place of beauty.  A place we need to protect.  And the rising and setting of the sun also reminds us of the cyclical nature of life.  There are always beginnings and endings and then new beginnings.  There is something reassuring in that.  Something, that for me at least, is a reminder that though my thoughts and feelings about God, my awareness of God's presence, may wax and wane, it is always present.

It's true, there's just something about a sunset . . . .