The Expectation of Sunsets
"Hope is the confident joyful expectation that good is coming." Steve Backlund
I've been staring at this picture I took of Half Dome for the last few days now. I'm not quite sure why. I almost hiked it, but due to the ever lovely National Parks we didn't win the lottery for permits to hike. That's ok, looking out at it was pretty beautiful. If you think about it, Half Dome is just a rock. What if you had a rock in your hand, would you sit for an hour and watch the way the sun colored it? All of a sudden the size and grandeur of a rock makes it seemingly more worthy to be gazed upon as the sun sets. I think the magic factor of sitting and watching rock for an hour is the sun. The sun colors the rocks, creating shadows, illuminating the rises and falls.
Everyday the sun will rise and every day the sun will set. Living in city/suburbia has somewhat disenchanted these constant occurrences of the sun. Maybe it's the smog, maybe it's because the sky line hides the sun, maybe it's because when we're in the midst of our day we forget. The quote by Steve Backlund resonated with me because it reminds me of why I find such wonder in the sunset or sunrise. I am confident the sun will rise and set. I am joyfully expecting the gradual painting of colors across the sky as the sun lowers into the curvature of the earth. Never have I questioned the beauty of the setting sun.
We all want some constance and stability in life. Everything is changing all the time. Even in the seasons of change and instability, do we find hope? Do we believe, just as we believe the sun will rise and set, that good is coming? Just like a sunset, it takes some time. It's not all at once. It's gradual. The sun makes its journey across the sky, seemingly slowly, then it seems to move quickly right before it's all about to explode in the most brilliant colors. We wait out the slow parts for the moment when our confidence and joyful expectation pays off.
As Half Dome sat basking in the setting sun, so I sat basking in the setting sun. I sat in hope. My friend turned to me as we sat on the rock face and said, "You got a good one." Yes, it was a beautiful sunset. Sometimes, though, I think the degree of beauty and wonder we feel is directly related to how expectant we are. Coming with expectancy magnifies the wonder. I hope to find ways to live more expectant of wonder, to be more expectant of the coming and present good. Where can you be more joyfully expectant of the good that is coming? Where can you be more joyfully expectant of the good that is right here, right now?
