As I watched a beautiful sunset over the James River in Virginia, I thought back to the news I had received just two days earlier. A friend I had known for 20+ years passed away. He was the third friend, all around the age of 65, to pass away in the past 6 months. All were relatively healthy, until they weren’t just prior to dying. The sun was setting on a beautiful day as it had on three beautiful lives.
Sunsets are sacred. They are one of God’s most underrated miracles that has become just another of nature’s routines which not enough people notice. Sunsets are also proof that endings can be beautiful. The sky color is the perfect environment to feel, absorb, and be grateful. A sunset reflects a day well lived, full of gratitude, with wisdom, and a sense of peace. There is a Native-American custom which calls us to ask ourselves when we awake, “What good things am I going to do today?” Keeping in mind when the day draws to an end at sunset, it will take a small piece of our life with it.
Having endured the rigors of the day, a sunset is peaceful and impressive in its beauty. So much so that even after it disappears, it continues to impart an afterglow and an aura of warmness. The loss of friends is an ending much like a sunset. There is an afterglow and a warmness in their memory.
A sunset closes out the day much like their lives, here on earth, with a lasting impact. It is almost impossible to watch a sunset and not reflect on the day or, in this case, a life. The beauty of the vision can stay with us forever. These three friends will leave an imprint on my heart.
George R. R. Martin has a great quote, “When the sun has set, no candle can replace it.” No number of candles can directly replace the brightness and warmth of the sun. Family and friends will never directly replace a lost loved one. Some things in life are unique. Candles do, however, provide enough to move forward as will those still with us.
I always said that blue was my favorite color, but as I pull at the threads of this blog, I stand corrected, “sunset” has become my favorite color. What is ironic, as Paulo Coelho wisely observed, is the most beautiful sunsets actually need cloudy skies. The clouds reflect the rays of sun, reshape the light, and create a more vibrant sky. Similarly reflecting on the distinctions of close friends creates a vivid memory.
My sunset is someone’s sunrise. This is a recent realization for me. Everyone in the world experiences the sun differently, and what was a sunset for one person can be the noon day heat for others, and a sunrise for someone else. I did the research and the sunset I watch over the James River in Virginia is a sunrise over the Chao Phraya River for someone in Bangkok, Thailand. What is an ending for some, is just a beginning for others. Because “I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting,” I trust and pray that my three friends’ sunsets will also be sunrises and a new beginning. Death is transitional, a sunset to a sunrise, a human experience to a spiritual being.
A sunset is not the end but the beginning. In the Bible, the natural or civil day begins at sunrise, while the holy day begins at sunset and lasts “from evening to evening” (Leviticus 23:32). In this way sunsets offer us a pivot from “nature” to “grace.”
Leviticus is the third book of the Pentateuch and deals with concerns of priestly tradition and laws. Its purpose is to impart a way of life in the book’s hearers and readers. In Chapter 22 Verse 7 we read, “Then, when the sun sets, he shall be clean. Only then may he eat of the sacred offerings, for they are his food.” Purification and the cleansing of our souls is associated with sundown.
In Isaiah 60:19-20, the theme of light is taken up again, but in an prophetic manner where the Lord’s radiant presence replaces physical light, “No longer shall the sun be your light by day, Nor shall the brightness of the moon give you light by night; Rather, the LORD will be your light forever, your God will be your glory. No longer will your sun set, or your moon wane; For the LORD will be your light forever, and the days of your grieving will be over.” This radiant presence will be an everlasting simultaneous sunrise and sunset.
Going forward, I will look at sunsets in an even more profound manner. With each one, I will ask if I am leaving an impression, afterglow, or aura of warmness. Am I living so that my sunset will then be a sunrise in His Kingdom? I have also decided to ask an unusual request at my funeral, similar to sunsets I have experienced, I think it would be nice to have people clap at the end of my funeral.
