Sun pillars

Photograph by: Rauber

They call it a sun pillar and it was spectacular, magnificent, even. Only a blind person would not have noticed. Heading west along 460 toward my home, there it was in all it's fleeting glory. I couldn't remember seeing anything like this before. I temporarily lost sight of it when I turned off the highway but stopped at the edge of my drive to soak it in as it rose from the horizon, sandwiched by a row of trees. The view was perfect. The light streaming upward seemed to be reaching into the outskirts of heaven. It was as though the jeweled beam was pointing the way to the very heart of God.

Later that evening I found out that "a sun pillar is a vertical shaft of light extending upward or downward from the sun. Typically seen during sunrise or sunset, sun pillars form when sunlight reflects off the surfaces of falling ice crystals associated with thin, high-level clouds (like cirrostratus clouds). The hexagonal plate-like ice crystals fall with a horizontal orientation, gently rocking from side to side as they fall.

When the sun is low on the horizon, an area of brightness appears in the sky above (or below) the sun as sunlight is reflected off the surfaces of these tipped ice crystals."

For me, experiencing the sun pillar was better than any rainbow. It turned my eyes to the sky and my heart toward God. I cried out to him. Could I trust him with those I love? Could he, would he, draw them to himself? Is his grace so irresistible that they can deny him only so long? 

I glimpsed something of God's power and might. I viscerally felt his love, care, and compassion. I was reminded that I can believe. I can trust. Thank you, Father.