Sometimes a light surprises
  The Christian while he sings;
It is the Lord who rises
  With healing in His wings;
When comforts are declining,
  He grants the soul again
A season of clear shining,
  To cheer it after rain.
- (William Cowper, 1731-1800)

Thursday evening after supper I took Max out for a short walk. Just a half-mile saunter around a few city blocks. This is the kind of circumstance where I am grateful to have a camera in my pocket because – no thought or intention of photography in my mind – I look around and realize we are walking in the most exquisite light.

So I grab a handful of images and almost immediately the words to William Cowper’s classic hymn come to mind. “Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings…” Well I am not singing, but I do have my eyes open and sometimes that is a lot like singing when the light is so saturated with God.

Any time I can receive light like that, when I absorb something of the glory and the wonder, then my soul is absolutely singing.

For me, singing tends to open up my receptivity and so much love floods in that I am easily overwhelmed. Light is like that too. I stop and I look around and I feel something shift and if I am not careful I get misty-eyed. The view – yes, and the glory of creation; but sometimes my song is simply the light. I don’t know quite how to say this but it is as if God’s light helps me to see with more incisive clarity.

Like I said, I do not leave the house and walk around looking for something to touch my soul. But recently my soul has been – maybe – more open to the light and God seeps in.

Regardless, I am grateful. May your Friday, and then your weekend, be filled with such serendipity – DEREK

here are my photos, in order, 7:47-7:57: