Monday, August 10, 2009

Summer Reflections


The sun being the source of life, light and warmth for us humans is often shown as a symbol for God. In Genesis, God created the sun, calling it good. The purpose of the sun is to give light to the earth and separate day and night (Gen 1:14). The sun is necessary for man’s well-being, and sustain life as we know it. God, in his infinite wisdom, created a solar system, capable of giving life, warmth and food (photosynthesis). All of this is done in the fine balance of distance, gravity, and atmospheric protection from the deadly sun rays. The whole system supports our life on earth while still expanding on the larger scale.
It appears that the Sun was worshipped as a personified, life-giving deity in Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and other major civilizations of history. For a culture who viewed the Sun as a god, it was not a far next step to feature their god with a face, such as the common symbol face in the center of the Sun's rays.
Sanskrit names for the Sun can be translated as fixity, steadiness, firmness, and strength of purpose. In terms of astronomy, the Sun simply is. The Sun rises day after day regardless of weather conditions, the behavior of humanity or the placement of planets in the sky. It traverses its set path, always giving light and heat and asking nothing for itself in return.

There is a beloved Aesop tale about the North Wind and the Sun. As the story goes, the wind and the sun were competing with each other: who would be the stronger. They came to an agreement that they would test their strength on a traveler who was going by. By whoever’s strength the traveler would take his coat off, would be the winner. The north wind tried his very best, he blew and blew, and as it got colder the traveler would only wrap his coat tighter and turn away from the strong wind.

Then it was the sun’s turn. She let out her warm rays, and before you know it, the traveler warm feeling very good and comfortable and behold, he took off his coat.
The moral of the story being that the gentleness of the sun is more powerful than the harshness of the wind.

On our journey of life we often encounter harshness, criticism, and all kinds of obstacles. But don’t we all long for a kind word, some encouragement, some appreciation? Just like the sun warms us with its golden rays, strangers, friends, and even family members with a sweet smile and an honest complement can do a lot to make our day go better. Let’s bring sunshine into other people’s life.
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