In Praise Of God’s Sunlight (May 25, 2003)

Don't you love the longer days at this time of year?

It is a genuine pleasure for me to see the sky getting light early in the morning, and to go for a walk when the sun is still shining past 8 o'clock in the evening. I just like it. I treasure a memory from my youth when I was in northwestern Montana and saw the sun set at 10 o'clock. My family knows that one of my life's ambitions is to see the midnight sun somewhere in Canada or Alaska - or Greenland for that matter - I don't care where, I just want to see the sun cast my shadow as the clock strikes 12.

I'm not alone in craving light like chocolate. I understand that research confirms what we know intuitively - that light keeps us from being sad. I once saw a picture of school kids in Canada receiving "light therapy" - basically they stood in front of a spotlight for a few minutes a day. It was supposed to keep them from getting depressed during the long dark winter months.

In the Bible God is revealed to us as light - all light. 1 John 1:5 says, "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." One of the intriguing elements of the New Jerusalem is that "The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp" (Revelation 21:23). When we yield to God, the "Father of lights" (James 1:17), we are assured that we "are all sons of the light and of the day. We do not belong to the night or
the darkness" (1 Thessalonians 5:5).

Give thanks to God for the bright sun he made. Some day we will see how that sun has barely reflected the greater light of his glory, and we will understand how the pleasures of long summer days had merely hinted of the eternal joys at his right hand.