Shine

The sun is shining. Or, at least it was eight minutes ago. Here, some 93 million miles away(give or take the difference between the perihelion and the aphelion), we can't help but notice, appreciate the sun. Californians are well known for their sun-loving habits. Where else can you find bikinis and swimming pool floats and beach towels for sale...in January?? (okay, you got me. Melbourne and Sydney!) That's why most of them ARE Californians.

Oregonians are probably even MORE appreciative of the sun because they so seldom actually see it. It's a matter of faith, almost. In Oregon, you pray that summer, in the form of a couple of consecutive warm, sunny days, comes on a weekend, so you can enjoy it. You have to remind yourself, on those rare occasions, that the strange glowing thing exultantly sending bright shafts of light through all the cumulonimbic fluff is a natural phenomenon and is NOT, in fact, the glorious and powerful King of Kings returning in the clouds. (Hmmm...is that the distant sound of an angelic shofar I hear???)

It's no great revelation that the sun is necessary for all that lives and breathes here on this earth. (with the possible exception of a few sulphur based life-forms that live near the life-giving warmth of the spreading zones on the perennially dark ocean floor) For all our recklessly brave displays of human independence, our oft-inappropriate confidence in our ability as a species to always be the fittest, to always survive and prevail, our top-of-the-food-chain arrogance...if the sun had ceased to shine eight minutes ago, this bright living planet would suddenly be a dark and frozen lifeless ball of stone and ice. No solar-reflective moon at night. No radiant heating of tropical atmospheric molecules. No swirling patterns of air currents. No water in liquid state. No rain cycle. No photosynthesis. No respiration of carbon dioxide or of oxygen. No life.

And yet, what does the sun actually DO?...Well, it DOES...nothing,
really. Like other stars, it moves through space on a pre-determined
galactic course, and it undergoes the process of hydrogen fusion (And God said,"Light, be!!"...or set into motion Maxwell's Equations.) In short, it shines, the passive result of that fusion. As a consequence, 93 million miles away, a small blue planet dances, flourishes with life...not because the sun decided to make life on earth possible, but because it shines (with no thought of the consequences) and the earth is, by His design, in the perfect place to derive the life-giving blessings of sunshine. And we look up with wonder at God's 'greater light,' only perceiving it eight minutes after-the-fact.

Daniel once equated people who impart wisdom, who lead others to
righteousness with shining stars. Shining is a passive act, more being
like Him and less striving to do what we think He would do. Shining is
faith, the pure and bright living faith that produces, by its very nature, works acceptable to Him. Like the sun, we may never see the profound effects of our shining. We may never perceive the blessings, the life we impart to others. But rest assured, lives are changed (for the better!!) because we shine (and let Him worry about the 'before men' part)...and they behold with wonder, the great Light of the Saviour shining in us and turn toward Him and begin to shine themselves, sometimes after-the-fact.

So often, I find myself sitting on the periphery, watching all of the brave and beautiful, fearless people doing, seemingly without effort, things that I find impossible...not the spectacular things (like piloting a plane or performing surgery) even...just the ordinary things...carrying a tune, riding a bicycle, holding one's own in a conversation. You know, we live in a world that values Doing. It's so easy to follow suit. So, I sit and curse my ineptitude and my vicarious existence on the sidelines of church and life-in-general. Until He reminds me that what He values is Being. Shining.