Yesterday after church, we started playing our own version of Are you smarter than a 5^th grader with our kids. In a way, it was to help us figure out where our kids homeschool education was lacking and what academic areas we needed to put some more effort into. We had a really fun time and the kids loved it. One question was asked to one of the younger kids and I wasn’t sure if she would know the answer. The question was, “What is the main source of life on earth?” She immediately answered, “The sun.” I was very impressed.

I then mentally took a step away from the game and thought about how true that is. What strength we get from the sun, but also, it really is the source of life to be sustained on this earth. How wonderful, miraculous, and beautiful that reality is.

The other day, we were driving around town doing errands and we got to see all the beauty that Springtime brings to the area we live. We have had some wild weather this Spring and while we typically get to see flowers and trees bloom one after another over a period of weeks, this year everything seems to be blooming at once. It is so beautiful!

There is this winding back road we travel on frequently through the forest and by a river. As I drive on this road, I frequently ponder on the beauty it holds. There are many flowering trees tucked here and there in this forest, and their beauty is breathtaking in the Springtime. The leaves are coming out a very rapid rate this year and it seems as though the trees are racing each other to get as much sun as possible.

I was thinking about this and recognizing that some of these trees are indeed growing and stretching in ways that can reach the most sun light. The forest is thick and sometimes, the larger trees block some of the sunlight from the small trees trying to get theirs. I was thinking about this and pondering again on the power of the sun.

I remember one time we were visiting friends and we went to church with them. In Sunday School, the teacher was talking about the power of the sun. He talked about how the sun is light years away from the earth, but the power of it can help a grape grow in a bunch on a vine here on earth. That comment was just something he used to make his point about how powerful the sun is, but it really resonated with me. The sun is truly powerful.

“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” (Matthew 28:18 KJV) Jesus said this to the eleven disciples after he was resurrected and appeared to them.

We do not have to be like the trees that grow along the road I drive on, we don’t have to hope that we get enough sunlight before the bigger, taller, and older trees take it all and block it out from us. We each have the ability to seek, feel, and enjoy the light of Christ. Just like the grape that grows on the vine, His power and light is more than enough for each of us to grow and thrive.

Some days, we know the sun is out, for it is daytime, yet the sky is so overcast and we cannot see or feel the sun. It can feel this way with Christ as well; we can feel disconnected from Him when the world or the distractions of the enemy are so big. Yet, we know that He is there, He is patiently waiting for us to turn to Him.

Today, I feel the urge to call on you to be like the smaller trees that reach as far as they can to obtain as sunlight as they possibly can. They do this so much that they begin to grow curved over instead of straight and tall like those around them. Break from the norms and be ever looking for the light of Christ. It will bring such joy into your life.