Published: October 04, 2008 10:46 pm            

A sunrise companion beside you all through the day

Thumbing through some data recorded since the first of this century, a silent and beautiful sunrise of a mid-January 2000 day pictured on the front page of The Daily Citizen pictorially struck me in the eyes. Simultaneously, it hit a mental memory chamber that recalled one of�W.F. “Bill” Crain’s popular recitations.

The sky’s orange-red sunrise that January morning�posed a visual warmth for the viewers. The poem in Crain’s verbal presentation warmed the heart and the mind of the listeners in the Sunday school class of which he was president. Likewise, Crain’s message brought a reassurance for humankind of a lasting destination. This is the poem recited by him:

“I met God in the morning when the sky was at its best, and his presence like a sunrise, like a glory to my breast. All day long his presence lingered;�all day long he stayed with me, and we sailed in perfect calmness over a very troubled sea. Other ships were tossed and battered; other ships were sore distressed, but the winds brought to us a peace and rest.

“I thought of other mornings with a keen remorse of mind, when I, too, had loosed the moorings with his presence left behind; so now I think I know the secret from a many troubled way — you must seek him in the morning if you want him through the day.”

Closely related to the content and intent of the poem recited by Crain are many titles and words�in Christian hymns and secular songs. To mention only a few:

“Holy, Holy, Holy” assures that “early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.” Then there are these: “When Morning Gilds the Skies”; “The Morning Light is Breaking”; “In the Garden” times it as “while the dew is still on the roses.” There�are countless numbers, too, in the secular group, such as these lines: “The world is waiting for the sunrise, every rose is covered with the dew.”

And the list could go on and on, such as these other titles in The Broadman Hymnal of 1940: “Another Day is Dawning,” “Heavenly Sunlight,” “In the Quiet Hours of Morning,” “One More Day’s Work for Jesus,” “Work for the Night is Coming,” “Have You Prayed all Night,” “Beyond the Sunset,” “Day is Dying in the West,” “The Latest Sun is Sinking Fast,” and “Now the Day is Over.”

Could it be that in every sunrise and sunset which�so many of us have taken for granted, there is a hymn with messages of importance to mankind that were penned at�inspirations from the Almighty?

Sunrises and sunsets are displays for worldly inhabitants ... free and awesome for the viewer. They also give humanity another cause as often stated by pastors�in the pulpit, to lift our eyes from and beyond the worldly things, and to the heavens.�

As humanity is aware, sunrises and sunsets�can well be�— and most often are — an awesome, inspiring and ever-changing panorama of beauty with clouds that only Mother Nature can portray.

The shifting clouds capture, sometimes too briefly, the gathering rays of the sun and reflect them in a colorful, spectacular way. To many of we of the elderly and aged group, this old world is too quickly on its way beyond the new dawn and the sunset. But nestled in a bed of humanity’s future security, there prevails that promised life beyond the�worldly�horizon and the heavenly sunset.

A good North Georgia Electric Membership Corp. (NGEMC) friend, Edwin Parker, cut CDs of Christian hymns for me last fall to play for my wife, Alva. In the Christmas holidays that preceded her death, a vicim of Alzheimer’s, I asked if she wanted to hear Christmas carols or the�hymns. Her reply always was what�she remembered as “church music,” that seemingly brought some kind of relaxation to a failing body prior to her Dec. 19 departure.

By the way, do you have a recording of gospel songs or “church music” that would be restful, relaxing and comfortable to the ears of someone in a critical and fading situation? Take it from a guy who recently has traveled what could be the lonesome road. Have at your access the recording of hymns�that may well soften the depths of the suffering of a loved one.

(Note: The sunrise picture and sunset picture miraculously were shot by the writer who was without a camera when the scenes first were spotted. Somehow, time was given for him to rush into the NGEMC Dalton office, grab a camera and get out of the building to snap a picture�of the colorful beauty of the sunrise. The sunset over the Gulf of Mexico was noted as his party exited a seafood house near Bradenton, Fla. A hurried run to the car in a parking lot to get a camera and�dive into the sandy beach’s sea grass was just in time to capture the sun before it faded beyond the watery Western horizon. There was a thankful and pleasant feeling that somehow�God’s presence prevailed in the short time period�necessary to capture�each picture.�Timing in no way could have been more perfect.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.