I saw one of the best sunrises ever this morning. Since I still retain a measure of journalistic ethics, I should make that statement a little more accurate.
I saw one of the best sunrises I have ever seen this morning.
This means out of all the potential 15,000-ish sunrises I could have seen in my life (the real number is nowhere near that), this morning’s was particularly memorable.
What was so unique about this one? It had vibrant colors, a combination of pink, orange, yellow, and some blue from the neighboring sky that I don’t think I could ever replicate on a canvas (most of that due to my lack of painting ability).
It also strongly reflected off of windows and even solid parts of buildings. Even when my back was turned toward it, it was still there, creating a 360-degree effect.
I wasn’t going to try to capture a photo of it because (and I’ve written about this before) a picture will never capture the full intensity of the natural effect and composition of it.
It’s one of the ultimate “You had to be there”s.
Knowing that, I thought I would try anyway. I stood by a hallway window waiting for the perfect moment to go outside and immortalize it.
As you can guess by the lack of a sunrise photo on this page, my idea didn’t work.
There was a reason the colors were so vibrant. They were all of the escaping tones peeking out from around the cloud cover.
By the time the sun had “risen,” it was behind the stratus-like aerosols with most of its anticipatory colors gone until the next blessed time.
None of this interference takes away from the fact that I saw it and it was beautiful.
I can’t show it to you, I can’t fully share it with you, but it happened and what I experienced was real.
Sharing vs. keeping
I don’t know if it’s a Catholic or Christian thing — in the name of evangelizing — a U.S. thing — we like to talk — or just a human thing regardless of where you are and what you are, but we love to share notable things that happen to us.
We don’t just share the good things or things we can brag about, we also like to share the bad things too. Of course, some people may treat sharing the bad things as a brag and be all like “Look at me, I’m in the greatest pain ever!”.
We are a social people . . . mostly . . . so we love to include others in our lives.
Maybe there are some things that are OK to keep to ourselves.
God gives us gifts, blessings, and graces every day.
A good number of these are to be used through us as instruments and shared with others.
Yet, some of these could be good lessons in humility. Pride hurts us all so we can use some more humility.
If something good happens to us, we can thank God for it and let it change us for the better so we can be better to others.
I know that writing about said sunrise from earlier defeats the purpose of my argument, but for the sake of argument, we’ll still use it as an example.
Maybe I see the sunrise, appreciate it, and be thankful for it, and it helps better my mood toward others today.
Maybe it helps me appreciate natural beauty more and I can better appreciate when other people share beauty with me.
Maybe I can help others appreciate natural wonder and awe without being specific to the gift I was given this morning.
There are so many things God has placed in our hearts. Many of them can only be understood between us and Him.
It’s OK to have secrets between ourselves and the Holy Trinity. You might have more of them than you realize.
Be a witness
No matter where we are in our faith lives, we are always called to be a witness to others.
This doesn’t always mean that we have to be ready, willing, and able to give a one-hour talk to a parish hall full of strangers.
Sometimes it just means to let our hearts be transformed by what God gives us.
Maybe St. Thérèse and St. Faustina didn’t tell us EVERYTHING in their autobiographic writings.
Maybe they kept some things to themselves that were so beautiful and profound, between them and the Lord, that they wouldn’t have meant anything to us or they weren’t meant for us.
They still serve as witnesses of strength in faith long after their deaths.
Give it a try in your daily lives.
If you’re a sharer or an over-sharer (I’ll let you discern what you are), keep a few things to yourself.
Don’t ignore them or forget them because they were given to you for a reason.
Through practice and prayer, you’ll know what to say, when to say it, and what not to say.
Maybe there’s something that you’d love to tell everyone but it’s only meant for one particular person at one particular time.
Let the Holy Spirit guide you. God wants you to do His will and the right thing.
I’ve already said too much — go to it!
Thank you for reading.
I’m praying for you.