Well, the vacation is over. I’m one tired Grandmaw but what a glorious week at Hilton Head. Drove home to Alabama this afternoon traveling under a beautiful blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds. All the way home I thought about all the wonderful days I spent with my oldest son and his family. My daughter-in-law’s parents vacationed with us, too. I love them and we had so much fun. They were smart enough not to be talked into an 8 mile bike ride. When I drove by Shady Oaks I honked the horn and yelled, “Eat my dust! Rode a bike 8 miles so I ain’t coming yet!”

Ecclesiastes 1:5 reads, “The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.” I was thinking about the sun as I drove home — its beauty, its warmth, its healing power, its movement, its symbolic meaning. We can see God and the sun as sources of life and sustenance. Psalm 84:11 reads, “For the Lord God is a sun and a shield.” The sun lights and warms and nurtures the earth. God is our spiritual light, guiding us and nurturing our souls, shielding us with grace.

We go to the beach to let the sun kiss our skin. But I think we feel God’s presence in the warmth of the sun and the music of the waves. We relax and join in with the rhythm of the earth’s axis. Scripture in Ecclesiastes says, “Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to see the sun.” Life truly is a contrast of light and the inevitable darkness. We rejoice in the light of the good times and look for the light in the darkness of the solemn times. God brings light to the dark world, as does the sun, guiding us through life and giving us hope.

“See the sun! God’s crest upon His azure shield, the Heavens.” — Philip James Bailey