Sunshine Beyond

Did you notice how the weather changed the very day that the school holidays began? On this occasion, I will confess to chuckling, seeing as my break from school did not begin that day. Yet for many Sundays as I greeted worshippers coming to chapel, I have not chuckled, but kept looking up at the sky to determine if I would get wet or not. One Sunday evening a week or so back, I beheld blue sky above the angry rain clouds. We all know this, of course, but the sky is blue every day, even when the grey vapours obscure it and filter out the sun.

Beyond the brooding mists and vapours of this world, there is another, sunnier and glorious realm. The non-Christian will one day be made aware of it. The Christian has a joyful anticipation of this place, for there she has a reservation.

Dark and cheerless is the morn
unaccompanied by Thee;
joyless is the day's return,
till Thy mercy's beams I see,
till they inward light impart,
glad my eyes, and warm my heart.

Visit then this soul of mine,
pierce the gloom of sin and grief;
fill me, radiancy divine,
scatter all my unbelief;
more and more Thyself display,
shining to the perfect day.

-Charles Wesley