Promises from a Setting Sun

It was a long day, and I was driving home - finally! I was excited that the sun is staying up longer. I don't exaggerate when I say it's been a long winter. I desperately wanted to rush home, though, so I can watch the sun set. Unfortunately, I didn't think it was going to happen. I pulled up to my house and I frantically searched for the sunset and it was hidden behind a line of trees and houses, but I knew exactly where it was, I just couldn't see it. I couldn't appreciate it's beauty in it's fullest.

It was in this moment that I realized my inability to see the beauty the sunset held, my inability to visualize the innate wonder of this world, did not negate the beauty or wonder, itself. I simply was in a position that didn't have prime viewing. And how cool and easily does this translate to our lives. See, our disappointments are so overwhelming and almost blinding that we cannot see the beauty and wonder in them or they will bring. Our negative feelings, past failures, and future anxieties grow like the tree line. The prize is just out of reach, the sunset, but it's there.

Here's what I'm trying to say:

Your present situation or past disappointments do not remove the beauty of who you are in this moment. And honestly, any current negative feelings you have about yourself can't take away your wonder.

There is a very famous Bible verse that I cling to in these moments of weakness.

Romans 8:18 (NLT)

"Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later."

And while this is so incredibly true-- Jesus heals all hurt with his grace in time, sometimes we just need a perspective shift. Think about it. If I just arrived home a few minutes earlier, I would've seen the glory hidden in the sunset. If I was, in the same moment, on the opposite side of the tree line, I could've witnessed it's beauty. Yet, my vision was hindered and manipulated by even my own timing and my own location. The sunset, though, still beautiful. I guarantee there are several photos of the sunset from several beautiful people who soaked it up. There are probably even several photos on Facebook or Instagram of that very sunset. Yet, I didn't see it.

What I really want you to know is that your worth is unchanging, like the sunset's beauty. And even in moments when you feel unworthy of grace, love, attention, peace, etc., even when you might be blinded by other's opinions or when you can't see yourself for the masterpiece that you are, please know that not only I say you're worthy, but your Creator does, too!