It is eight-thirty in the morning on the middle day of May. The temperature is pleasant, just slightly cool. The sun is shining brightly.

Now, if you were here, you might take exception to that last statement. If you were to look outside right now, you’d see no bright patches of light, no defining shadows stemming west from the house or garage or trees or anything else. You’d see a rather thick bit of fog wrapping around the hills and woods and dulling visibility to something in the neighborhood of a half-mile or so. And so, you might argue, “The sun is NOT shining brightly.”

Ah, but it is, my friend, it truly is. As brightly as it ever shines in the middle of May or any other day, give or take. I know because I have been above the fog and the clouds and I know that even on the stormiest, darkest day, the sun is still shining. The sun changes very little from day to day and I’d even dare to say that we could not see any differences with the naked eye. Nor would I suggest we try.

What changes is the elements of the atmosphere that are nearest to us: clouds, dust, smoke, fog, rain, snow, and what have you. Our perception of the sun may shift with each of those. The warmth we feel certainly changes. Our attitude changes. But the sun… not so much.

Perhaps a bit too often, our notion, awareness, and appreciation of God depends too much on personal circumstance. Clouds and fog and rain and tornadoes and such… they come and they go and sometimes leave us marred and marked and scared and scarred.

Those whose God seems more like Grandpa Santa Claus will find their appreciation shaped mostly by how well they like the particular gift they just unwrapped. Those who believe that he causes all things to work together for our good are able to sense the sunshine even on a gloomy day.

They know that clouds and rain are just different aspects of what it takes to ripen the green, growing strawberries bordering the old railroad ties in a small garden on a foggy morning in the middle of May. They know that no matter how dark the day, the Son is still shining.