It was my first day on a new job. I was young, eager, and excited. The office on the 41st floor of the Bank of America building in San Francisco looked right out over Coit Tower and Pier-39. This was it! I had arrived! What could be even greater?
The day went surprisingly well. In my eagerness to get going I remember listening and having open conversations. In the pressure to take it all in and come up to speed, real friendships were established that went on to survive some difficult times in the future. The challenges and obstacles were seen by everyone involves as opportunities and windows. I knew that things couldn’t be any better, but then it started.
I vividly remember that it was around five-thirty in the evening. Someone walked by the office where Lyn and I were talking; “You have got to take a look at this sunset”.
I walked out to a bank of glass windows facing to the west and the setting sun. Whatever I have seen before and since pales compared to what was unfolding before my eyes. I had no idea of how special this was; I actually assumed that this happened everyday on the 41st floor! The reds morphing into yellows and onto blues, purples, and even some greens was incredible! The shapes of the scattered clouds seemed to explode with the colors shaping our perception. Everything around us slowed and spun into a quiet, reverential grace of a moment in time. Those that were left watched in silence, unwilling to say anything for fear that it would somehow change what was unfolding.
By the darkness has invoked a prayer of benediction my reflective wheels were moving at breakneck speed. Was it just beauty? Was there more? God’s word to Joel haunted my steps. “I'll set wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below: blood and fire and billowing smoke.” (Joel 2.30)
There is so much beauty around us. Each is a sign; are we listening to everything Divinity is saying to us?
