Cotton Candy Sunrise

I saw the sunrise yesterday morning as I was returning home from an early job. I can't remember the last time I did that. I'm always up at that time, but I'm already working, waking children, cooking breakfast, and so on. I had forgotten how beautiful the sun can be. That gigantic exploding star that burns my skin and scorches the grass in the summer is so quiet and pretty as it slowly climbs the sky every morning. I've been too busy with my own little life to remember that its purpose is bigger than just giving me light as I go about my busy day. As I turned a corner, the waking sky was in front of me, and its canvas of bright blue was scattered with beautiful, fluffy pink clouds. My first thought? Cotton candy!

Cotton candy sunrises are so nice. They seem happy and hopeful. They make me smile. They remind me that, no matter how busy I am, God is still there, faithful to bring the sun up and making it beautiful every single time. As I surveyed the work of art before me, I wondered, "Shouldn't I see cotton candy and say it looks like a sunrise? After all, the sunrise came first...."

It's funny how we relate to the world by our own experience. We get so used to all the man made things around us that those things become the point of reference by which we relate to everything else, even God. Cotton candy is a wonderful thing, and I do love it,  but even its delightful melty sweetness can't compare to that amazing thing that happens in the sky every morning. I want to see the world for what it was first - God's awesome creation. I pray that God will help me to stop in the midst of this crazy and busy life long enough to see all the original works of His art around me.

In closing, I'd like to share a traditional Jewish prayer I found. It's what's in my heart today.

How wonderful, O Lord, are the works of your hands!

The heavens declare Your glory,

the arch of the sky displays Your handiwork

In Your love You have given us the power

to behold the beauty of Your world

robed in all its splendor.

The sun and the stars, the valleys and the hills,

the rivers and the lakes all disclose Your presence.

The roaring breakers of the sea tell of Your awesome might,

the beast of the field and the birds of the air

bespeak Your wondrous will.

In Your goodness You have made us able to hear

the music of the world.

The voices of the loved ones

reveal to us that You are in our midst.

A divine voice sings through all creation