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“Sunrise and sunset
Since the beginning
It hasn’t changed yet”
-Allen Toussaint
A few years back, the word “awesome” became THE buzzword, gradually replacing it’s
exhausted predecessors such as “cool,” “sweet,” “groovy,” or, Heaven forefend, the
ancient and creaky “neat” and “nifty.”
Like most superlatives, “awesome” is most often misplaced and overused. As I see it,
there are many nice things in this world, some of them actually quite wonderful.
But awesome?
For instance, a sports team may be anything from pitiable to excellent, but none of
them are awesome. Ditto for songs, paintings, books, movies or TV shows, among
others. Any or all of them can be good, even great, but they aren’t awesome. Nor are
food, cars, cruises, vacations – but I’m sure you get the point.
However, that doesn’t mean there is no awesomeness. Quite the contrary.
Allow me to explain:
A recent change in our household schedule has necessitated that I walk my dogs early
in the morning, long before sunup. We set out in the pre-dawn darkness under stars
sprinkled and spread across a black velvet banner of sky.
Unlike the daylight world, the darkened one is alien and complex, closer, yet at the
same time more vast. Shadows blur and conceal familiar edges; hiding the definition we
so need to make sense of our world. An early morning walk through our streets
becomes a trek through a foreign landscape. The daytime dimensions of my
neighborhood stretch and flex in the gloom, their familiar, well-known contours made
strange. My home terrain takes on an entirely new aspect in the darkness and it is in
these remnants of night that mystery reigns.
It is in these moments that my interpretation – my shallow, unthinking concept -- of this
world is challenged.
But, eventually, darkness incrementally fades to a deep, intense blue. We turn the
corner, headed east toward our house, early birds cheering us along the home stretch.
We walk toward a smudge of pink above the far treetops.
The sun is rising.
It’s dawn – God’s daily assurance of clarity and revelation.
Awesome.
Since the beginning
It hasn’t changed yet”
-Allen Toussaint
A few years back, the word “awesome” became THE buzzword, gradually replacing it’s
exhausted predecessors such as “cool,” “sweet,” “groovy,” or, Heaven forefend, the
ancient and creaky “neat” and “nifty.”
Like most superlatives, “awesome” is most often misplaced and overused. As I see it,
there are many nice things in this world, some of them actually quite wonderful.
But awesome?
For instance, a sports team may be anything from pitiable to excellent, but none of
them are awesome. Ditto for songs, paintings, books, movies or TV shows, among
others. Any or all of them can be good, even great, but they aren’t awesome. Nor are
food, cars, cruises, vacations – but I’m sure you get the point.
However, that doesn’t mean there is no awesomeness. Quite the contrary.
Allow me to explain:
A recent change in our household schedule has necessitated that I walk my dogs early
in the morning, long before sunup. We set out in the pre-dawn darkness under stars
sprinkled and spread across a black velvet banner of sky.
Unlike the daylight world, the darkened one is alien and complex, closer, yet at the
same time more vast. Shadows blur and conceal familiar edges; hiding the definition we
so need to make sense of our world. An early morning walk through our streets
becomes a trek through a foreign landscape. The daytime dimensions of my
neighborhood stretch and flex in the gloom, their familiar, well-known contours made
strange. My home terrain takes on an entirely new aspect in the darkness and it is in
these remnants of night that mystery reigns.
It is in these moments that my interpretation – my shallow, unthinking concept -- of this
world is challenged.
But, eventually, darkness incrementally fades to a deep, intense blue. We turn the
corner, headed east toward our house, early birds cheering us along the home stretch.
We walk toward a smudge of pink above the far treetops.
The sun is rising.
It’s dawn – God’s daily assurance of clarity and revelation.
Awesome.
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