Five Minute Friday — Sunrise

Every Friday I join a community of bloggers for Five Minute Friday. One word prompt, five minutes. And I literally write it in 5 minutes. The prompt this week is … Sunrise.

Only a creative God can create something that believers and nonbelievers can appreciate and stand in awe of; and that is a Sunrise. In my opinion Japan has the best sunrises. In fact, the national flag of Japan is a rectangular white banner bearing a crimson-red circle at its center. This flag is officially called Nisshōki (日章旗, the “flag of sun”), but is more commonly known in Japan as Hinomaru (日の丸, the “circle of the sun”). Japan is known as the country of the rising sun.

Photo by Marcus Winkler on Unsplash

When we lived in Okinawa, Japan, we lived at a place called House Sunrise. Okinawa is an island that was surrounded by water. It wasn’t uncommon to be on a early walk with a friend and to see people watching the sunrise in the morning. I saw three years of sunrises in that house. We permanently placed our sofa to face the window to watch the sunrise come over the water. It was the most beautiful and peaceful things I could ever see. The colors of the black then with the rise of the sun the hint of brightness and then the hint of pink to the orange and then finally the sun takes is place in the sky. Only something so beautiful and so breathtaking can bring a sense of new in the atmosphere.

The sunrise was a reminder of a new mercy from God. Each day we rise and the day begins fresh. A chance to right the wrongs and hope again. Another day to share the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. The sunrise is a gift for the believer and the nonbeliever. The old is of yesterday and the newness begins today!

From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised. Psalm 113:3.