Incredible SONshine!!

I am a firm believer that for every physical thing on earth, there is a spiritual counterpart. For example, just like we need food for our physical bodies to thrive and survive, we need spiritual food for our spiritual bodies to grow. Or, like athletes in a contest work hard to succeed, so do we spiritual athletes need to continue to work out as well through prayer and Scripture reading so that we'll succeed spiritually. Basically, I believe that there's a lesson in most anything. And I'm so grateful that God teaches in pictures and simple things, because I very definitely have a simple mind that needs to keep things as basic as possible.

The most recent lesson I've learned was in regard to the weather. Here in Oklahoma, we've had abundant snowfall ... gray, dreary days ... fog ... days and days without the sunshine. Personally, I think I have Seasonal Affective Disorder, a disorder with the following characteristics: a craving for carbohydrates (finally! an excuse!! Pass the chocolate, please!), loss of energy, and oversleeping -- to name a few. As I'd talk to my fellow Oklahomans, I realized I wasn't the only person with these particular symptoms. Seems like everyone I know has been hungry for a little bit of spring weather. Warmth, sunshine, blue skies ... ah!! We crave it! We also all seemed to agree that yes, we've been touched with S.A.D. The treatment? Getting sunlight ... lots and LOTS of sunlight. Well, when there has been little to no sunlight for a month, that's a little on the difficult side. We'd wait, and watch ... listen to the weather reports ... discuss what sunlight used to feel like "back in the day". But today ... oh, wonderful today!! The sun not only peeked out from behind the clouds, it appeared in all of its blazing glory -- heating up the earth, melting what little snow we've had left behind, and basically brightening up the faces of all of the winter-weary Okies. Walk down the street and you can be greeted by people who shout out, "Beautiful day, isn't it?" Kids are playing in their front yards ... clerks in the grocery store greet customers cheerfully when they walk in ... and life here in Oklahoma is wonderful!

So, I was thanking my very gracious God for the wonderful gift of His sunshine today. How often I've taken it for granted, but how grateful I am today for this very precious gift!! And, He once again started working on my very simple mind with His pictures and correlations between the physical and the spiritual. God reminded me that as much as I crave the SUN, so my soul craves the SON. The "physical me" needs sunshine to survive ... to thrive ... to bring joy to my inner being. The "spiritual me" needs Jesus so I don't wither up and die ... so that I have hope ... so that I have a future. If I go for any length of time without Jesus, my soul begins to live in the darkness without the Son. And just like I grow depressed without sunlight, so many things happen in my life when my focus isn't on Christ. I become self-centered ... I wallow in self-pity ... I grow angry ... I lose hope. As much as I want to live my life centered in the sunshine, even more I want my life to be grounded in the Son. For me, there IS no other way to live.

So, a big thank-you goes out to the Father for His faithfulness in teaching me yet another lesson through His physical world ... just one more time of Finding Me In Him ...