As I'm riding on the way back from the KYLSC State "A" Championship swim meet we are heading back west from Lexington. It is approximately 6:32 in the evening (Central Time), and there is an absolutely beautiful sunset in front of us. There's just something about the sun sinking below the horizon that changes the whole world. The sun goes from a bright yellow to varying shades of red and orange, it changes the color of the sky and the clouds...it's breathtakingly beautiful.
It got me thinking about the symbolicness (is that a word? ...well it is now) of the sunset. Think about it...what does the sinking of the sun herald? Night. A time devoid of (natural) light. The reign of the boogeyman begins with the sun setting. Chaos takes over without the sun to mediate its dealings with the mortal world. We experience a descent into the depths. Night provides cover for unhappy occurrences...until the sun rises again the next morning. Sunsets symbolize the end. The happy times of the day are done, and the lukewarm light of the stars take the place of the warm eye of the sun. But before it goes away each day, the sun shows us why we love the beautiful sun so much. The colors, the beauty, the simplicity of a sunset leave us with a hope that a good thing is coming...something even better than what came before.
The cycling of the sun rising and then setting can be likened to a person's life. The day begins, the sun is bright and the day gets off to a good start. It's the birth of a new day. A person's birth is similar. The child is beautiful (maybe not right out of the womb, but after it gets cleaned there are few things more precious than a newborn child). There is hope for the life. The child's flame is strong from birth, hope it high, it is going to be a good day. As the sun rises it loses some of its initial brilliance. It is still bright, but we get used to it. We've started to take it for granted. The child grows, it is still beautiful, but no longer the cute baby that it was. People begin to adjust and the child is assimilated into life. As the sun climbs, it doesn't grow brighter, but its heat grows. It reaches the summit of its elliptical path around the earth. The child is now getting into its role in life. It isn't brighter than at birth, but it is contributing to society. It's growing into an adult and coming into the best parts of its life. Things are good, the horizons are endless. Then the sun begins its descent. The brightness starts to dim...the heat is slowly but surely fading. The adult fulfills its purpose. It contributed a lot to the world in its prime, but slowly their importance isn't as valued as it once was. Its life is still a bright spot in the world, but the contributing heat is fading...the descent is coming.
The sun enters its most beautiful phase...the sunset. The heat is nearly, or already, gone. But it is as its most beautiful right at the end. The adult has grown, it has retired, it has lived a full life. Now they are truly beautiful, they have offspring who love them. Their world is complete and there is nothing more beautiful than a life well lived and a life well loved.
The sun set. The person dies. Hopelessness reigns supreme for those left behind. There is nothing left for them to enjoy. Then the realization hits...life is renewed the next day. The sun will rise again...the cycle continues. There is life after death. That is a comfort to those living and left behind, and a comfort to those completing the cycle. The constant patter of sunrises and sunsets is proof to us that there is more after us. The end isn't death...there is more.
And so we go...into the sunset...
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