Gift of Sunsets

​When was the last time you noticed a pretty sunset?
 
Gorgeous sunrises and spectacular sunsets serve as bookends to each day. Sometimes the colors are soft and muted. Other times the sky glows with a vivid beauty even the most talented painter would be challenged to recreate. 

Clouds will occasionally obscure our view, but we know the beauty is there, behind the cloak. It doesn't matter if it's a bitterly cold winter day or a hot, stormy summer evening. Regardless of the season, sunsets are here to remind us of the splendor of life.
 
My favorite colors are pink and aqua. Last night's sunset glowed with those particular, cotton candy hues. Thank goodness the beauty of the evening sky stopped my daughter in her tracks. I'd have missed it if not for her.  

No matter what your favorite color is, you'll find it in a sunset. If not tonight, maybe tomorrow. Be patient and keep an eye on the sky. And enjoy the wait.
 
Sunsets can signal when it's time to enjoy some of those extra special moments in life:

• bonfires
• movie nights
• family dinners
• an evening out with friends
• a night in with someone you love
• story time with a precious child

Sunsets, like so many beautiful things surrounding us, are often missed or taken for granted. We forget to appreciate their awesomeness. Maybe that's why some are grand enough to take our breath away—it makes them harder to ignore.
 
My daily commute covers very flat terrain. There's nothing to obstruct the beauty, except occasionally my own mind. I forget to look. To really see the beauty in the skies.
 
Sunsets are fleeting. Some slip quietly away, unnoticed. Others are charged with heat lightning, sparking off on the horizon.
 
Is there anything more awe-inspiring than mile-high thunderheads at dusk, glowing bright-white against a turbulent navy, shot through with streaks of lightning?

Perhaps the one thing that can top a summer thunderhead is the rare northern lights, glowing and undulating in icy air as darkness falls.
 
Sunsets are a reminder that endings can be beautiful and not something to be feared. They are part of the constant rhythm to our days.
 
    ***Beauty, rest, stars, rejuvenation, energy, light, opportunity, beauty, rest and on and on***
 
Sunsets are absolutely free to everyone blessed with sight and a line of vision to the sky.
 
My post today contains fewer words and more photographs. Photos I've captured in my everyday life when I've felt inspired to save the glory at dusk. Similar to the painter, my words cannot do justice to the artistry of nature.
 
What if we measured our lives in sunsets instead of years? What if we strive to feel peace at every sunset?
 
Friends, keep your eyes on the horizon when the sun dips low and enjoy the transient display.   Kim