“From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised.” Psalm 113:3

Sunrise and Sunset

There is something magical, even mysterious about morning and evening skies because the brilliant colors appear only at sunrise and sunset, and there may be a few of us who don’t understand why. It seems that when the sun is low on the horizon, the light rays must pass through more of the atmosphere and therefore bounce off more molecules than other times of the day. This means that the shorter wavelengths of blue get scattered away before they reach our line of vision, while the longer wavelengths of red, orange and yellow can pass through the atmosphere unaffected, thus creating beautifully colored sunrises and sunsets. But complicated as it seems I like to think of it all as a gift from God, as is life itself. Our lives begin and end in beauty and simplicity, while everything in between can be complicated. We are scattered about by all the vicissitudes of life, the joys, the sorrows and hardships. But with the help of a loving God we somehow manage to grow in body, mind and spirit as we work our way toward the brilliant sunset. And just for the record, sunsets are reputed to be more beautiful than sunrises. Could there be a message there?

lhart@gwi.net