The Light

I had the distinct pleasure this Easter morning of enjoying a sunrise service on the top of a mountain. Well, ok, if Stone Mountain counts as a mountain... in actuality it is a bug hunk of granite rock. Nevertheless, I was at a high elevation with a view of the entire city of Atlanta and beyond. It all started at 5:15am, when I met up with some of my friends from church at one of their houses. We drove to Stone Mountain Park and then proceeded to hike up the mountain towards the top. It's 1 mile up the side of the rock. As we were walking, Don commented on the beautiful full moon that we were enjoying, as otherwise the sky was completely dark. He said, "You know, if someone had never seen the sun, they would probably think that the moon was really bright, but it pales in comparison to the real light of the sun." Something I'm sure you have heard before, as I have, but really it is amazing the clear picture that we saw of this as darkness turned into light before our eyes. You can see in this first photo what the sky looked like when we got to the top of the mountain. Dark. Actually, this was not right when we got there because the skyline was not even lighting up yet at that time, but still you can see that it was dark. If you scan the middle of the picture, just below the lightening horizon, that is the ground below. It is where we live. It was completely black. And even though we have created little lights to help us see the roads or our front doors or parking lots, viewed from this elevation it is clear that we do not provide much light for ourselves at all. See the little specks dotting the ground? This was not a forest, you are looking at the city, granted it is not the downtown area. I'm sure I don't have to point out, but I will, that this is what our lives are like when we attempt to live on our own. We attempt to shed a little light on our circumstances or those of our friends and family. We try to understand the world around us. We even try to show others the way. But if we are not living in the true Light and leading each other there constantly, we reduce ourselves to the little specks of light. They don't illuminate beyond our little personal space, if that. Ok, moving on….




So this next photo was taken at literally the first moment that I saw the sun peek up over the horizon. See the little top edge of the sun? It is barely there at all, and yet look at the brightness! The world is suddenly illuminated. The little specks of light on the ground are vastly outshined. They are insignificant, and so are our own efforts to lead ourselves and others in this world. I had to ask myself later, am I truly experiencing the Light in my life right now? Or am I blindly feeling my way through tough decisions and relationships and demands? Is my flashlight shining, or have I done away with my insignificant source of light? Am I more comfortable with the flashlight, not wanting to really see my life for what it is? And you will probably agree that was enough questions for one day. Praise God that He loves us enough to provide Light when we are lost, which if we are honest is pretty much every day.

The rest of the sunrise…