By Rev. Carrie Irwin
Sunsets are truly spectacular!
It had been several days since I intentionally stopped to take a breath and enjoy the beauty of the natural world around me. I was on my way home, when I caught a glimpse of the fiery evening sky over the lake, so, I stopped and offered up prayers of gratitude and wonder. How fortunate I am to live in such a beautiful part of Ontario!
As I stood watching the sunset, I was filled with a sense of joy. Joy, and peace, deep gratitude, and awe! You can’t capture in a photo the grandeur of breath-taking moments, but they can give us a tiny glimpse of it.
The bible is saturated with stories of wonder and awe, and I can’t help but think about what went through the minds of those who stood witness to those events. The burning bush, the transfiguration, the many miracles Jesus performed, the shepherds in the field visited by angels, and Jesus’ appearance to the disciples after His death.
There were no cell phones or cameras around to capture those moments, and yet, we imagine and enact and tell the story of those events thousands of years later. What was witnessed then has been told and retold for thousands of years, and no picture could do them justice.
I thought about that as I put my phone down after taking a couple of pictures last night, so that I might simply stand in awe to take the sunset in, not as a reporter, but as a spectator, or maybe even as a participant in the wonder and gift of creation.
We can’t share the moment or tell the story until we have taken a moment of two ourselves, to simply stand in wonder, and allow the story, whatever it might be, to sink deeply into our souls.
In these early days of 2022, may your soul be filled with the hope of each new sunrise, the peace of each evening sunset, and the joy of being present to both!
God bless!
Rev. Carrie Irwin is the rector of The Anglican Regional Ministry of Saugeen Shores, Tara and Chatsworth, Regional Dean of the Saugeen and the AFP Executive Representative of the Northern Region of the Diocese.