Whispers from the Sunset

Yesterday was one of those days. My week had been cruising along, I had very little on my plate and a lot of time to do it, getting ahead on some things. Then, as often happens in this vocation, in the blink of an eye my week went out and got all Carrie Underwood crazy on me.

So there I was, after a morning of post-charge conference organization, preparing for worship, and writing a sermon; after an afternoon of home visitation and hospital visitation. I was driving back to town from the hospital, hoping to squeeze in a couple hours of funeral prep for Saturday before visiting with the grieving family at the viewing and then meeting with a member of our church wanting to get married but have the previous pastor come back to do the ceremony. It was quite a day, and this half hour drive was the calmest point of the day -- even with being held up on the back roads which were getting paved in the middle of "rush hour."

The drive from Greensburg to West Newton is a beautiful drive. The rolling hills offer magnificent views of the countryside in every direction. As I was driving home, I saw several different stages of the sunset. Every few minutes I'd get to a new vantage point, and it was starkly different than the last -- the colors, the angle of the rays, and the illuminated scenery kept surprising me around every bend. It was spectacular.

In this gorgeous sunset, I felt God speaking to me. It was as if the sunset was placed there, just for me, to remind me of the awesome glory and power of our Creator. God was showing me how wonderful life could be, even on a day when inside, I was throwing a pity party for myself because of having to "be there" for all these people. Why can't these needs for pastoral care be spaced out?

"Here's a gift for you, my son," God was saying. "It's to remind you that your work today is my work. It is to remind you that I am so wonderful and awesome and powerful that even when you're feeling sorry for yourself, even when you're tired and would rather relax than provide care for my children, I will lift you up and empower you.

"But most of all," God seemed to say, "this sunset is a reminder that it's not about you or your needs. It's about people who are having a far more hectic day than you, and need their own sunset to calm them just as this one is calming you. Go, be that sunset for others tonight, and remember that my awesome power is at work in you in these moments."

Sometimes, we just need a beautiful sunset to stop us in our tracks and remind us that it's alright, that God's got our back. Sometimes we need sunsets to whisper that God loves us and will never leave us. To God be all glory, now and forever. Amen.