Sunrise

From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord’s name is to be praised.

(Psalm 113:3, KJV)

Every day, the sun rises. Every day, the rising sun is a symbol of hope for the whole world, a promise of new beginnings, a reminder that dark times are darkest before the dawn, and that the light returns once more.

Isn’t it humbling that the God of all creation, when He designed all things, was so gracious as to provide us with this illustration of all of His eternal comforts and promises every single day, freely available to every single person, for all of time?

…his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

(Lamentations 3:22-23, KJV)

In the summer, here in Maine, the sun rises really early, and we mostly watch it rising through the forest from the comfort of our home…But in the winter, the sun arrives at a more reasonable hour, and we’re able to pile ourselves into the truck in time to go and see it at the shore!

Sunrise is full of wonder and beauty. It’s never the same twice. It never disappoints. The simple act of the sun’s light curving over the horizon is a symphony of the intricate, unendingly-varied complexities of the interactions and characteristics of photons, lightwaves, atmosphere, particles…It’s just physics, really. It doesn’t have to be so achingly lovely. But God is a perfect Creator, and it is just as easy for Him to add extravagant beauty to this functional process of shedding light upon our days.

Oranges and pinks, purples and blues, stretch across the sky, reflect across the water, dissolve into the damp shore…Every moment is another opportunity to cry out, “Look at that! Did you see that? Oh wow, look at that color!”

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

(Psalm 118:24, KJV)

All leading up to that final moment, when the first sliver of a rising sun peeks out above the horizon, or the island, or the cloud-bank that had been concealing it only a moment before…

For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing concealed that will not be known and illuminated.

(Luke 8:17, BSB)

And so the day begins!

…ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts…

(2 Peter 1:19, KJV)

Thank you, Lord, for another day, another sunrise, another reminder of Your light that has come into the world, of Your hope that shines upon us who were living in darkness, and of Your Son, Who rises in our hearts!

~ the beach ~

Now, since we’re already here, we might as well take a look around!

Actually, as soon as we got to the beach, while Joe and I were watching the skies, the kids were already ranging through the tidal zone, splashing and looking, investigating tide pools, turning over rocks, and zinging clamshells out across the water.

Clam flying is another one of those things that I had never heard of before moving to Maine. The kids learned about it at Shellfish Field Day at the Downeast Institute. The little, round soft-shell clams have this unique aerodynamic property, so that when you spin them out high over the water, they gracefully trace this perfect arc, slowly hovering down to a water-landing. It’s even better than skipping rocks, if you can find them!

And as the sun came up, we enjoyed a walk along the sandbar, out to the rocky island.

Sometimes, one moment can change your whole perspective. We’ve walked this rocky beach many times, but never at this particular moment after sunrise, when the rising light made all the rocks glitter like gold!

…and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

(Revelation 21:21, KJV)

We followed the path in the rising morning, where the stones were highlighted in gold, and the seaweed was delicately edged in crystal.

My eyes, as always, were drawn to that little patch of sand around the borders of each advancing footstep, and the tiny treasures that awaited there…

On the island, the sun was bright, the wind was chill, and every little sea-spray pool was glazed over. Ice-skating by the sea!

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

(Psalm 27:13, KJV)

I often remind myself to set my eyes on things above, and not on earthly things…But just as often, I must remind myself that, if I have set my eyes upon God in heaven and all of His goodness and His eternal kingdom, then I can also always see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!

Funny thing on the Maine coast. Even though we are facing east, there are so many little spits of land jutting out into the sea, that it’s actually pretty easy to watch both sunrises and sunsets over the ocean! Sandy River Beach at Jonesport is one of our favorite sunrise locations, with a deep beach and a wide bay reflecting all of the unfolding beauty of the early moments of the day. Sandy River Beach also features a low-tide walk across a sandbar to a nearby island, and is always full of fun tidal zones to explore! On the other hand, a short drive along the coast from Roque Bluffs State Park leads to a dock at the end of Schoppee Point where you can watch the sun sink in fiery splendor into the sea.

by Sydney Michalski