"Sunsets are proof that no matter what happens, every day can end beautifully.”
-Kristen Butler
The day got away from me yesterday. I debated whether or not to ride my bike at 4:30 PM, so close to the sun going down here in heart of Silicon Valley in Northern California. I pushed the envelope, but it would be worth it I told myself, believing I would make i home before dark. The bike ride itself along the protected nature trails nearby would have been enough.
I was almost home, when I noticed this fiery fall sunset. I pulled over on University Avenue that overlooks Vasona Lake County Park, and then again on the busy Winchester Boulevard as cars whizzed by to photograph this eye-catching sunset. The darker it became the more intense the colors bled, especially over the Santa Cruz Mountains.
There is this phrase often used by Michele Macdonald, one of my esteemed meditation teachers while at on retreat at a monastery in Myanmar. “Just This!” she would say. It is a reference to abiding in the present moment.
Everyone at one time or another has marveled at the beautiful red and orange colors of a sunrise or sunset on vacation, but few of use take the time or make the effort to position themselves to witness a sunset in more urban environments.
The brilliant twilight “afterglows” are the best and often last only minutes as the sun sets below the mountains.
My sister Josephine gave me a gift for my birthday in 1994 accompanied by a wallet-sized card that referred to my given name:
"Dennis [Greek Origin] that means “A Worshipper.”
It is followed by a passage from Psalms: 139:13, 14
“It was you that created me. For the wonder of myself, for the wonder of your works, I thank you.”
I still keep that card in my wallet to this day as a reminder of a way of connecting with something greater than myself.
