Rays of Light

I adore my “Bean” but she’s not a very patriotic pooch. Every year as Independence Day encroaches upon her secure little world, she retreats indoors to hide from the “bombs bursting in air” and stays there for a whole week or so till every last firecracker in the city has been silenced. Come to think about it, that sounds like a pretty smart thing to do.

Maybe it’s because my ears are getting persnickety with age, but the BOOMS and BANGS do seem to get louder every year. On the upside, though, the colors are more vibrant than ever. This year I was chatting with a dear friend as we watched the fireworks together. She and I volleyed the usual oohs and ahs back-and-forth as we marveled at the incredible aerial kaleidoscope. But then she posed an interesting question: “How do they get all those colors?” I wondered that too. “And how do they get them to make such nifty patterns?” I added. “Or stagger their explosions?”

Being the inquisitive creature that I am, I came home that evening and did some reading. I can confidently say that the whole start-to-finish development of pyrotechnics is now clear as mud to me. For those of you, who like myself, are scientifically challenged and do not know that Cu3As2O3Cu(C2H3O2)2 is the chemical equation for the color paris green and for those of you who could care less, let me briefly share the two most important things I learned about the process of making fireworks.

First, a whole lot of really brainy people have pooled their intelligence over the centuries to create those exploding works of wonder. And unless your I.Q. is right up there with Albert Einstein’s, it is all very difficult to understand.

Second, the first point is insignificant. We don’t have to comprehend the complexities of fireworks in order to delight in them. We don’t even have to pay for them. You can take it to the bank that all across America, on July fourth, the skies will be lit-up from coast to coast and all we have to do is to position ourselves to take it all in.

Think about the beautiful sunrises and sunsets that you have seen. There they were, free gifts from an intelligent Creator, and all you had to do was sit back and enjoy their splendor. Yet how many of us really understand all the scientific laws that govern the sun? I would go so far as to say that I don’t need to understand much of anything to enjoy and appreciate most everything.

Next year, I won’t even give the matter of fireworks production a second thought; I’ll just lift my head, look upward and watch in awe and anticipation as the sky blazes with an awesome show of dynamic energy and beautiful artistry.

I was thinking of this today as we moved towards Sabbath. If this term is unfamiliar to you, it simply means the day of the week which God set aside and ordained to be Holy. Regardless of which day you consider to be Sabbath or where you meet to worship, the important thing is to rest, and to turn your eyes upon God. He is more dynamic and powerful than we are able to comprehend, but the reality is, we don’t need to.

All we need to do is to position ourselves to “see Him.” And by that I am not referring to our physical locations, but rather to our hearts. Sabbath is a time to rest our physical bodies, but more importantly to rest our weary minds by setting aside all the worries and cares of this world – to know that our Creator is watching over us and that He is in control- and to focus on Him.

July fourth may have come and gone once more, and the skies may not be lit up with booming fireworks, but God’s voice is not, nor will it ever be, silenced. Psalm 19:1-3 reads:

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard