Posts Tagged: sunsets

“Applauding the Sunset”

On February 9, 2019 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer


“Praise the LORD!

Praise, O servants of the LORD,

praise the name of the LORD!

Blessed be the name of the LORD

from this time forth and forevermore!

From the rising of the sun to its setting,

the name of the LORD is to be praised!” (Psalm 113:3, Christian Standard Bible)

One of the nicest parts of being at the beach on the gulf side of Florida is watching the sunsets.  And one of the nicest parts of that is watching it with other people.  Kids—especially girls—dance in the sand.  Couples kiss.  Some older couples dance.

But one of the sweetest things is that many people applaud when the sun goes down.

Why not?!  We applaud after a wonderful performance at a concert or a play.  Every sunset is a wonderful performance.

I don’t know how many of those who applaud the sunset are Christ-followers.  But I do know this: To praise the art is not far removed from praising the artist.  There is always still hope for those who appreciate beauty.  It is when people are no longer able to see the beauty around them that I am most fearful.

I do not believe that an appreciation of nature will save you, but I do believe that such appreciation holds promise.  The world’s beauty may only be a portico outside the house of God, but perhaps if you appreciate the portico long enough, you may ask yourself the crucial question, “I wonder who lives here?”  Perhaps you may even see that the door is open, and that there the smells of a truly Home-cooked meal are wafting from the kitchen.  Perhaps you will gather all your courage, humility, and faith, and go in to meet the Artist.

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“Sunsets, Ontology, and What Impresses Young Children”

On April 23, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

We had a young couple and their family over for dinner last evening.  There were two boys, about six and four, along with a baby girl.  The ground was too soggy for the boys to play out in the yard much, so they played games inside.  They wanted to see what was upstairs, but mom and dad put the kibosh on that.  Just before they left, however, my wife escorted them upstairs for a look around.  They were quite impressed.

What impressed them most were the whirlpool (which doesn’t work) and my window on the west.  It had been a very grey day, but just as my wife was taking the boys on the tour, the setting sun broke through, and streamed through the red curtain at my window.  The boys were quite taken with the sunset through my red curtain!

That may be, in part, because children are into ontology.  Don’t be frightened by that word, even if you’re not a philosopher.  Ontology simply means “the systematic study of the ‘is-ness’ of things—that is, of their essence or being.

Well, maybe it isn’t that simple after all.  If a person is studying essence, perhaps—at that very moment, and by that very action—the person is missing the essence.  The boys were not studying the sunset through my red curtain.  Rather, they were experiencing that sunset.

Madeleine L’Engle, A Circle of Quiet, observes that ontology is being completely outside oneself, and that small children are perhaps one of the best examples of ontology.  “In real play, which is real concentration, the child is not only outside time, he is outside himself.  He has thrown himself completely into whatever it is that he is doing.”

I am entirely too self-involved to be into ontology most of the time.  However, I think I’m getting a little better.  As I write this, an achingly lovely day is dawning.  New leaves on the trees are swaying.  I hear my wife downstairs, running water in the shower.  Lovely sounds.

The word for today is ontology.

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