Sunsets

So a while ago we had a pretty wicked storm pass through here, complete with tornadoes and hail and 80 mph winds. We had to spend a good chunk of time in the cellar beneath the stairs. It was wicked. After the storm had passed, the sun was starting to set, and the sunset was honestly one THE most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. I took tons of pictures which I have taken the liberty to post for you to see and enjoy (if there's anybody actually reading this). It was breathtaking. I ended up telling Tom about the storm and the sunset afterwards and attached the pictures you see here to his email as well. Then we got to talking metaphores.

He explained to me that when he was reading his email, he thought the storm and sunset story is similar to going through life: we have to go through trials and hard times to get to the good stuff. The closer we get to happiness or the closer we get to living like Christ, the stronger Satan works to defer us from that happiness. His exact words, since I feel like I am not doing a good job explaining, were: "everything amazing we get, or closer to being like Christ we become we tend to have to go something difficult. But at the end it's so worth the trial!" I think he hit that right on the mark!

Then I was thinking more about metaphores and sunsets and life while I was walking around my neighborhood one evening and came to another conclusion. Sunsets are much more beautiful when there are clouds in the sky. If it is a perfectly cloudless sky, a sunset, though still pretty, is rather plain. The colors in the sky just lightly fan out across the sky, and there's not that many different colors, pretty much just blue and yellow. But when there are clouds in the sky, the sunset is a million times prettier. It reflects of the clouds and creates different colors and shadows, and it can be simply breathtaking. It can be pink, or blue, or purple, or red, or orange, or all of those together and more. It can something that stops and makes you fall in love with life and the beauty of the world around us.

I think that's the same with reaching happiness in life. If you cruise through life and (fortunately, though unlikely) never have any trials in your way, when you reach your destination, though the view will still be pretty, it won't be as breathtaking of an ending as someone who has endured through trials. When you have obstacles in your life, or mountians you have to climb, when you do get over those roadblocks, the ending is so much more beautiful and meaningful; your sunset is much more breathtaking. It may be hard, and at the time you may resent having to go through those obstacles, but in the end, it makes the life you've lived, the crazy ride you've been on, worth it all.