The View From My Kitchen Window

April 6, 2014

In our part of Alabama, the changes from my window in the early to mid Spring and mid Fall are so rapid that at times I feel as though I should take a picture every day to capture them.  With a dogwood tree right outside my kitchen window, there are even days when I feel as though the pictures should be made both morning and evening.

Then comes summer and winter.  It often seems as though there are no visible changes at all going on around us during those times.  I have learned that these seasons are when changes must be measured in other ways.

For some reason God wired my brain to be very in tune with the shifting and changing of light and shadow.  For as long as I can remember, I have been one to notice a difference in both the look and the feel of light over a period of weeks, months, and seasons.  Summer has always felt like summer because of the different angle at which the light dances through the window in the late afternoon.  Each year, the dance is a little different because of the growth of the trees and bushes around.

The light coming into our back garden is different this year.  The trees are taller, filtering more light and creating a different grouping of shade.  Even in areas where trees have been blown down ~ or been cut down by Mr. Marvelous ~ there is a difference because of the height and the fullness of the remaining trees.

I would like to think that living in the trees and being one who is so sensitive to the light helps me to slow down a bit and live at a slightly different pace.  That slower pace allows me to stop and delight in the patterns of God's light when the trees dance for me, and to reflect on God's Light.  It is easier for me to live at this pace; I am in a season of life when there are neither little ones needing constant attention nor work outside the home to rush off to.  My prayer for you today, regardless of whether you are in the middle of work or caring for family or just feeling overwhelmed by dark days, is that you will find a moment to stop and reflect on and delight in God's creation and especially in His Light.

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”                John 8:12