The Tennessee River near Scottsboro, Alabama is the setting for this photo.  The B. B. Comer Bridge is about a mile to the north and Guntersville is a few miles to the south.  The midday sun was blinding and breeze was brisk, blowing at about 15 mph.  I had stopped by a friend’s house to enjoy a cookout at this beautiful location just as the sun began to dip below the mountains.  As the sun sets I am amazed at the transformation that takes place over the face of the water. 

        Slowly the change begins to happen on this liquid stage; I feel like I am on an extreme makeover show as I watch the sun disappear.  The light that was so bright is now evaporating before my eyes.  The winds are suddenly no where to be found and the mood of everything is altered as the temperature begins cool.  I watch as the shadows begin to lengthen as the sky darkens.  It was at this moment I take my first photos after my shoulder accident.  I was so pleased that my camera still works that I felt I had to share this photo.

        As I look into the shadows I make a discovery.  Unexpectedly, I see many lights shinning out across the waters of the river and along the dock leading to the boathouse the solar lights are beginning to send out their lights like a dozen tiny lighthouses.  As the sun disappears the night sky slowly unveils the stars of heaven.  Suddenly I am surrounded by thousands of friendly lights and the darkness seems less threatening.

        Life is a lot like that; we seldom see the wonders of the night sky because we constantly expect to live in the sunshine.  We suppose that when things do not go our way and the darkness intrudes into our lives that we have done something wrong.  Perhaps it is in the darkness where we will see the light.  Possibly it will take a dark path in order for us to find our north star.  No matter how gloomy life may seem today, look up and wait; there are thousands of lights shinning all around you.  The stars are constantly shining, but often we do not see them until the dark hours.

Something to think about:

• There is nothing so bad that good may not come of it.

• Friendship adds a brighter radiance to prosperity and lightens the burden of adversity by dividing and sharing it.

• Measure not God’s love and favor by your own feeling. The sun shines as clearly in the darkest day as it does in the brightest. The difference is not in the sun, but in some clouds.

• Don’t despise little things; a lantern can do what the sun can never do—shine at night.

• Faith grows only in the dark. You’ve got to trust him when you can’t trace him. That’s faith.

• No problem is ever as dark when you have a friend to face it with you.

• There are few dark days ahead for those who have learned to spread sunshine.

• If you trust God in the dark, he’ll change your midnight into music.

Thankful for the night
Rickey Moore