Surprised by the Sun

The beauty around us is extreme and gratuitous. Around us, all of the time, it demands an answer. We are beckoned by beauty to wonder where it all comes from, and where it's all going. Beauty is always sneaking up on us. Always surprising us. Always thrilling us. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

My new full-time job requires me to be on the road headed to work before 7 AM. This is not fun. On the flipside, it does come with one amazing side effect: almost every morning I see the sunrise. #nofiltersrequired

Did you know this happens every morning?

Specifically this:

And this:

And even this:

Surely God was up this early, and I did not know it. 

Now, ugliness is real. Dark is dark. Broken is broken. Sunrises do not account for this. But if we demand answers for the ugly, we must do the same for the beautiful.

I cannot look at those skies and not be inspired. I cannot witness that beauty without being awed. There may be a scientific explanation for how the sun rises, but there is no explanation for those colors. 

Or more specifically, for what those colors do to my soul.

In the scripture we are challenged to shine like stars. We are invited into the story of God. We are welcomed into its beauty, our own colors adding something to its majesty. Like those sunrises, the beauty in our mess is often surprising, unexpected...and you have to be awake to see it.

May Hopesprings in Sioux City add to the beauty of the picture God is painting in this community. 

Where are you surprised by the beauty of God?