Sunshine and Shadows

I was sitting at the office this morning, contemplating life: the stuff I liked about it, the stuff I didn't. (Sometimes, like today, I feel overwhelmed by the stuff I don't like so much about life..it's easy to do. I mean, it's a challenge to embrace the "awesome" when you feel pushed down by opposition. That's just the way it is, right? Even the optimist sometimes has to search for the silver lining.)

Anyway, as I said before, I was sitting in the office, contemplating life when I looked out the window at just the right time. You see, there's a beautiful, sturdy, old brick church across the street from my office, complete with mesmerizing stained-glass windows. I love to look at it, bask in its character. Today, though, the thing that caught my attention wasn't the building itself, but rather the shadows cast on the side of the building by the small maple trees that line the path between the church and the road. The sun was appearing and it was bright and powerful this morning. Those shadows were so dark, so obvious, so defined. So frail.

That's when it occurred to me.

Life's shadows are often cast upon our sturdy, beautiful souls. They write upon our faces. They threaten to consume our identity. But they cannot.  In reality, shadows are simply a reflection; an illusion. The sun, until it reaches its zenith, casts those shadows.  Yet the sun is bright and strong and will, in time dissolve the darkness. 

This experience was a testimony to me that a shadow is simply a reminder that something brighter is appearing right now across the horizon of life.

So, it is now forever etched into my life.

Whenever there is a shadow cast (whether literally or figuratively speaking), I will always take a moment to pause, look around for the source of light and then move forward through the darkness with strength, holding tight to the hope of what will rise just beyond the horizon.