From Darkness To Light

There is absolutely nothing more beautiful than a Florida sunset unless it's a Florida sunrise. Our condo is on the fourth floor so we have an expansive view facing the Florida Bay, facing west. The mornings are usually calm and there is a peace that I just want to drink in and savor, that and the beautiful skies that God paints as the sun rises somewhere behind me on the ocean side of Key Largo. 

My Bible open for morning reading I can also watch the osprey fly in for his morning catch and with any luck he will pass by the lanai with his catch in hand as if to say, "I've got my breakfast. How about you?"

On occasion there will be a nose that pops out of the water, a manatee taking a short breath before diving down to the grassy reeds again to enjoy his morning snack. A fin signals a special pass by of a dolphin.

The dawn comes slowly, a little gray light changes to a light purple and pinkish sky. Sometimes it's a bit hazy with humidity and it's like looking through pink cotton candy. Some mornings I watch the clouds become coated with the pink sugary light.

Gradually the light grows and the skies become tinted with a pastel yellow so light it is almost white. All the while the myriad of colors are reflected in the waters expanding the serene canvas. 

When next I look up from the pages before me, I see bright blue skies dotted with a few white clouds. Now it's truly time to begin the day. Time for me to forage for my breakfast.

Not too long ago I found a passage in Acts 26 where Paul is describing his Damascus road experience. In an instant a light was blazing around him and the voice of Jesus called to him. His was an immediate acknowledgement of Jesus, an immediate conversion. There are many who do not have a Damascus road experience, a day, a specific time, where they become a believer. Many experience a dawning, a gradual awakening to Jesus.

In that same chapter Jesus tells Paul that he is sending him "to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light.(v. 18)" Somehow that comes to mind when I watch the darkness of night fade to the beauty of the morning and the brilliance of the day ahead.

Florida Bay Mornings

It is 6 AM and I am wide awake. Try as I might I can't seem to get back to sleep. I give up and decide that I might as well get up and make a cup of coffee and have my devotions on the lanai as the sun comes up. Since we face west, I will not actually see the sun peek over the horizon but I know from past mornings that the sky will turn beautiful shades of pink, lavender and salmon before the sunshine finally fills the sky. This morning there are several puffy white clouds as well which remind me of pink cotton candy as they reflect the morning sun.

As beautiful as that scene is, it is only enhanced by the arrival of an osprey who is hunting for his best fishing spot to catch his breakfast. He has to share it with a white heron or crane who is delicately wading through the waters on shore on his long spindly legs, pausing now and then to wait for a passing fish.

The osprey perches on a springy palm branch on the tree in front of our condo. He sits quietly and watches for an easy catch. Not satisfied, after a few minutes he flies to a palm tree to the right of me almost out of sight. I can see him if I lean forward. He sits patiently. Waiting. Waiting.

Suddenly he swoops down to a spot in shallow water right in front of me and struggles in the water. I imagine claws wrapped around a nice juicy mullet in the water. The osprey flaps his wings and flounders in the water. They are not birds that land in the water and float as the pelicans, terns and cormorants do. Water sprays up in the struggle and finally the osprey takes off.

I look expectantly  to his claws but they are empty. Poor guy. The fish won this round. I know the feeling. Too often I am actually feeding fish rather than catching fish.

The osprey flies off, I assume, to another spot or to dry his wings or both. He certainly can't go back to the nest empty handed. I can only imagine the squawk of mate and offspring. Luckily no one depends upon me to put fish on the table.