Trailing The Sun
I had a very romantic, whimsical kind of day today. I love romantic, whimsical days. Let me give you the background. I am in the very happy position of not having taken all of my annual leave this year. That means I am able to take odd days as holidays before the year is out. And so I took today off. Tuesday. I’ve never just taken a Tuesday off in the middle of the week before, but I really recommend it. It really lifts your spirits. I deliberately picked today because it was forecast to be sunny. And it was so sunny, that I feel tremendously blessed.
I felt as if I trailed the sun today. This morning I walked by the river on the way to the gym. The morning sun was white with light. It literally created a kind of crystal haze above the water. The river was glassy and caught this brilliant light in shards of silver across the surface. Creation always speaks so powerfully to me of God, and in the face of such beauty I was struck with awe of Him again. I have been through a restless, unsettling time of questioning with God in past weeks, and in this one moment, I was so aware of Him and His everlasting, comforting presence with me. And His love.
This afternoon I spent time writing in my journal in a cafe, and then after, I walked to the river again. By now the sun was already lying low in the afternoon sky. I stood and watched it hover over the water, a cascade of gold rippled across the surface towards me with the last of its warm light.
I stood on the path to watch for a while and then something really cute happened. A little duck jumped up from the water and onto the bank just beneath me. It stood on the brown, dry leaves and wiggled its hind feathers before joining me on the path. Then it just stood beside quietly, also looking down at the golden hues on the water. Occasionally it would look up at me, kind of expectantly, but I hadn’t counted on feeding ducks today and so did not have anything to offer, sadly. Pretty soon a whole crowd of ducks joined us too, and it made me smile just to watch them.
I walked home and passed a beautiful store that sold specialty teas and chocolates, as well as various cheeses, special kinds of biscuits and other loveliness. I was able to buy some gorgeous Christmas presents for my friends and also a box of rosemary biscuits for afternoon tea. How lovely is that? Rosemary biscuits. I had never even heard of these before. My Grandma grows rosemary in her garden back home in New Zealand. It has an exquisite herby, fresh kind of fragrance. I used to pick it from the stem as a little girl and hold it between my fingers, until my skin smelt of it; like mint or pine. I’ve read a book about the language of flowers and rosemary is said to symbolise remembrance. Lovely, huh?
And then I carried on. Still trailing the sun, but now, I just had to stop. It was one of those breath-taking moments. As if the sun had collapsed into the horizon bleeding ruby and amber in the pale evening sky. It was truly gorgeous, and another blessing from God.
And so that has been my beautiful day off. On Tuesday, in the middle of the week.
it takes a day like this to know that god is in charge of all the universe. I wake up in the morning and i see the sun rising over the sea through my bedroom window. As the sun and the clouds change so does the colour of the sea. In the recent gales it was majestic to see. Then i am reminded that our lord Jesus spoke to the waves and stilled them. as he speaks to us he stills our hearts and says be still and know that i am lord That is awesome, he spoke us into existance and we are guided by his word. That is a voice we love to hear. As his sheep we know his voice, and this sheperd goes after the lost one Who can doubt his creation. on days like Birgit had he is even more real to us. Well said Birgit!.
Sounds like a wonderfully relaxed, God inspired, memory-moment building day! Its great that after we’ve done a small bit of planning (e.g. take a day off / check the weather), if we’re prepared to make space in our day (rather than trying to do 10 things from our weekend to-do list) how much pleasure and enjoyment we can find in what’s around us.
Dear Cyril and Brent, Thanks so much for your thoughts. Yeah, it really was a beautiful, God-inspired day as you say, Brent, and amazing how God blesses us in the simple things when we make space for Him in our minds and hearts … Cyril, I loved the description of the sea from your bedroom window, and also your reminder about Jesus having authority over the waves, and our hearts. Thank you both and God bless.