Chasing Sun on Country Lanes

September sunshine danced with shadows across my face today as I drove to Newberg "the back way." I love the back way. The road less travelled by. I've heard it makes all the difference. Late summer breezes mingled with early autumn chill in a worthy face-off I felt blessed to take part in during my drive. The mellow sounds of Teitur beat from my stereo. As I sang along at the top of my lungs a line from the song caught my attention. "You're the ray of the sun, I'm the shade of the shadow." I stopped singing as an intriguing thought slipped from my subconscious to the frontal lobe of my brain. It was one of those rare pieces of wisdom straight from the heart of God that sends invigorating tingles down your spine with its sheer simplicity and depth.

John 15 is one of my favorite passages of scripture because it reminds us of the importance of abiding in God's love. We are vines, connected to and rooted in the branch, the source. Today, God revealed a similar image to me. Prepare yourselves for this comrades... If God is the sun, the source, we as his children are the rays of the sun. The sun is nearly always there, up in the sky everyday. But we can't actually see the sun because our eyes are too weak. We see its rays, the whole earth is lit up by that one sun's rays. Wow.

The same is true about God. We can't actually see God or God's glory here on earth. Yet God's glory and work shines through anyway. God calls us to act as rays to illuminate the Source. As followers of God we possess God's light and glory. Through our actions and words we shine brilliantly, feeding directly off the source, just like the sun and its rays. Together, we radiate and fill the earth with God's glory! Awesome! Oh man, I can't believe this little analogy never occurred to me before. It's so cool!

Light and shadows have always been beautiful to me. Even though shadows are clearly darker than sunlight we can still see everything perfectly under a shadow; the sun still lightens the dark patches. As rays of the Sun, we dance with the dark shadows of this world: the deepest hatred, evil, mistrust and abuse. We must cast the Sun's light among the dark patches.

Another one of my faves is Hebrews 1:3 "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word..." Granted, we are not "the Son," but I believe we are called to radiate God's glory as rays of the Son!! So radiate my friends, illuminate this world. Abide in God's love and you will become a blinding little ray!
Peace out.