Always look to the Son, flower

You know it’s winter when the moment the sun touches your back, your whole body exhales — welcoming its warmth. It’s as if the sun’s rays slip straight through your jacket and settle on your skin, and for a brief, golden moment your whole being responds.

We were made for sunshine — and not only the kind that warms our faces. We were designed for Light itself. The sun does far more than simply illuminate our world; it sustains life. Vitamin D, photosynthesis, climate, energy, heat — all the rhythms of life respond to its touch.

No human can recreate the fullness of the sun’s impact. We try — because dependence is uncomfortable to us — and yet, our Lord welcomes it.

I often think the Lord is much like sunshine: full of light, energy, and life. Able to sustain worlds simply by His presence. Even my daughter senses this parallel. She and Renée worked on a sweet poem for homeschool that paints the picture beautifully:

The Sunshine by Jenny Phillips

The sun shines bright

On my toes, on my face and on my nose.

It tickles the tops of all the trees,

Each blade of grass, each buzzing bee.

I am so glad that God above

Made warm sweet light for me.

And yet most of us are not in fields or meadows, soaking up the sunshine. We sit under buzzing fluorescent lights — bulbs that illuminate, but cannot warm, energize, or give life.

We have a deep need for sunshine, for His Sun (Son), His presence, His love — the kind that permeates, restores, and awakens our hearts. In our own strength, our light flickers. We can try to love, but our love runs out. We can try to serve, but we grow weary. We can try to hold our homes and marriages together, but surrender is difficult and our efforts fade.

So we turn to artificial, controllable sources of light. Click. There is light — not inspiring, not life-giving, but at least we can see. Buzz. Our phones glow with their small, temporary flashes — enough to distract us from the open invitation to step into real radiance.

But we need the sunshine of God’s love — that steady, filling, life-giving ray that sinks into our skin and awakens something deep within us. That first warm beam on a cold winter morning that sends a shiver down the spine. We were made for that.

Friend, let us not settle for lesser lights. Let us not trade the warmth of His presence for artificial glows that cannot sustain us. May we choose to step away from the frantic brightness of our busy lives, turn off that flickering bulb, and walk outside — into the sun (Son), into His warmth, His truth, His radiant love.

Always look to the Son, flower. 

”He who has the Son has life…”

1 John 5:12

 

“A fountain of life was in him,

for his life is light for all humanity.

And this Light never fails to shine through darkness—

Light that darkness could not overcome!”

John 1:4–5

“…The Light of God has now come into the world,

but the people loved darkness more than the Light…

But those who love the truth will come into the Light,

for the Light will reveal that it was God

who produced their fruitful works.”

John 3:19–21