We had guests last evening for dinner; and as I was scurrying around the house picking up and making things ready, I glanced out the window.

And I am so glad I did! I stood mesmerized, watching the most beautiful sunset slowly fade behind the Troodos mountains of Cyprus. Long fingers of pink, scarlet, and gold stretched over the heavens, lit up the sky for a few moments, and completely filled my senses with awe.

Scenes like these also speak to my spirit, not  just my soul.

Later when I fell into bed, I reflected upon the sunset and remembered the old adage: “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky in morning, sailor’s warning.”

Shakespeare said something similar in his play, Venus and Adonis: “Like a red morn that ever yet betokened, Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field, Sorrow to the shepherds, woe unto the birds, Gusts and foul flaws to herdmen and to herds.”

In Matthew 16: 2-3, Jesus said, “When in evening, ye say, it will be fair weather: For the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather today; for the sky is red and lowering.”

Here are three examples of tried and true folklore that some have used to predict the weather fairly accurately through the centuries.

Jesus told his disciples over and over “Watch and pray.”

If we are watching the conditions around us, we will recognize the times and seasons. We will be prepared for whatever happens, because we are alert and ready…

Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober ( I Thes 5:1-6).

Sunset color occurs when light reflects off particles in the atmosphere. The more particles, the more color. We are called the “sons of light.” The thought occurred to me that we should be brilliant in our display of light and color to the world as we “bounce off” things in this earth that are at war with God and His kingdom. 

The colors of our lives should reflect the light of the Son of God and should say to other believers: “Fair day tomorrow” because they are spiritually prepared for eternity. 

In contrast the light and colors of our lives should say to those who are perishing without knowledge of the Son of God, “Batten down for a storm. Get ready. You need to be prepared.”

Paul expresses the same thought when he said that we are a “fragrance of life to those who believe, and a fragrance of death to those who are perishing.”

We do need to recognize the times and seasons around us, but we are also a sign to the world of what is about to take place.

Each life becomes a mini-sunset or sunrise with his/her own warnings to the world about how to prepare for tomorrow…