We were taking a rare walk at Colt State Park in Bristol,RI at sunset. I say rare, because even though the park is pretty close by, we never think to go unless an event happens to be going on there. Anyway, we were on a paved walkway that runs along the bay with a seawall wide enough to sit on. From that wall there's an impressive open view of Narragansett Bay, the boats, sea birds. And across the choppy water:the western horizon and a glorious sunset on a clear day. It was one of those days.

There were all sorts of folk out this warm August evening-children skating and playing ball, baby strollers and new moms and dads.Older couples walking hand in hand.
Young love. Dogs of all kinds.Boom-boxes, skate boards and the brassiness of adolescence. Noise, laughter and water lapping against the seawall.Motoring boats and birds swooping and feeding. Silence sleek sailing vessels.I imagined my friend Nicole.

Ken guided us to the seawall, and there we sat watching the golden ball turn ever deep in reds and burnt orange...joyous, rich pink backing up the sun. We know this sunset ritual: turn from your distractions, the boats speeding across the dancing path of gold leading right to us... Tune out the noise and commotion on the path behind us...the clamor in our being.

Don't miss a second of the sun's descent. That's the point isn't it? And while keeping focused, the shimmering path before us becomes more and more glorious and transcendent.

But I did look to the right-catching sight of another couple of yards away, also on the wall, also looking to the sun. Strangely though, there was no path of glimmering light leading from the sun to them! I was puzzled. Why were they sitting over there? Why didn't they come sit where we were.? Why miss the beauty of the glorious path of light set before us leading to the setting sun?

I had never thought of this before. I stood up and went about ten feet away from where Ken was and sat down to view the sun. Okay, now I could see the path of light coming straight to me and when I looked back to Ken he was staring at dark blue-green water and the sun. It appeared as though I had stolen his shiny path of light!

"Do you see it?" I asked. He nodded and stretched out his hands indicating that he did indeed still have his path of light before him. I couldn't see his path and he could not see mine. Sitting apart we both had a glimmering path but from a different angle. I had to take it on faith that he saw what I saw and he had to do the same.

Can you see truth in any of this? I see parallels to much that I have been learning about God through reading scripture and walking with Him each day. As I sit with Him every morning, my relationship with Christ has grown. I am learning to stay more focused and keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, who wrote and perfects my faith. I am committed to finding and following the unique path He has for me that leads ultimately to Him. Meanwhile, I want to refrain from making assumptions or pronouncing judgment on others for what I can’t see of their walk, their journey with God. Their path to Him is their own, I will not always see it.

I desire to keep close to my dear husband, our children, family and friends so that we can often see and be in fellowship on the same path. At the same time, I am learning to recognize that when we are apart or have aspects of our live that are separate, it may be hard to understand what they are doing, or thinking. But if we earnestly strive to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus-we can trust each other’s path…

I spent much time last month looking up words like: path, light, sun, glory, eyes, etc. in a concordance and I saw that the Bible is rich in this references to the metaphor of God's path of light.

Our son Ben explained to me that the scientific name for the sunset phenomenon is called light refraction. Just as a mirror reflects light, so our eyes and the water do the same. We see this light reflected on the water as we reflect light with our eyes. I don't fully understand the physics, but I like this idea of reflecting light.

All around the world people view the evening sun spreading out over water,they see the same path of light as we do as their eyes reflect the sun. The spiritual message of Christ the light of the world is embedded in the sunset is for anyone who wants it. This is aptly expressed by Paul in
2 Cor. 3:18-19.

“…whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of God is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness, with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord.”