It's always sunny ...

Location. Location. Location. Its amazing how much our location changes the way we look at the immovable and unchangeable.

Ive taken to walking around the perimeter of our yard, which is probably around an acre. One cool morning it was drizzling off and on with layers of clouds that shifted by the second. I put on my shoes and got to walking and watching those fast-moving clouds.

I wondered if the sun was going to make an appearance and hoped that it would. It was gloomy defined and I couldnt recall the forecast of the day. And then it broke through the clouds and I could feel it against the back of my neck warm and cutting the chill in the morning air like a knife.

The rays of sun settled into my heart chasing the anxiety and I sensed then this truth: the sun never stops shining. Never. Its only my perspective and things far beneath it that change what my limited vision can see.

The sun slipped back beneath the clouds, but not before I grabbed hold of His character in a fresh way. The light that is our God never dims. He is steadfast, immovable and vibrant beyond measure.

Anything that appears less is about me. Its never about Him.

How I feel does not change who He is.

Even at night the sun is still shining. Ive never thought much of this. How deep the valley we choose to tread or how low we could be forced to travel by the choices of others, He is ever good. He is ever faithful.

There is but one thing God cannot be. Not good.

He cannot be less than what He is. He cannot be less love and in Him we are never less than.

The verse about giving thanks in everything often rubbed me the wrong way when I was younger. It smacked of fake Christians. You know the ones? The ones that I would look at and think: Im not buying it. Youre miserable. Just own it. You know the ones that seem to be just a little too fine when you know they are, indeed, not fine? They are pretending with all theyve got. I know this. Ive been one of them. More than once.

But, there were always a few who moved above the pain. I would see these believers giving thanks in everything and it felt authentic. It wasnt as flowery and showy and sometimes it wasnt real pretty. But, it was real. And I would wonder how they did it.

How do you keep giving thanks when you want to take parts of your life and put them in a garbage disposal?

How do you keep giving thanks when you want to send that person to an island with no extradition treaty?

How do you keep giving thanks when you want to be healthy and you are looking at the test results?

How do you keep giving thanks when the anxiety has you crouching in the bathroom?

How do you give thanks when reality is so very real?

Heres what they knew and what Im ever reminding myself of on the days that are cloud laden: The sun is still shining. Eventually the clouds will part. Eventually the earth will rotate and we will be out of the dark. I know beyond anything that these things will happen. Even if it doesnt happen this side of heaven. (And the good news is: the other side of heaven is infinitely longer. Like eternally so.)

I also know that in the dark and in the rain we learn how to grow. Like butterflies in the cocoon not knowing how theyll ever get out of bondage. Like seeds trapped beneath earth as water pours down not knowing how the soaking wet is pushing them up and out and into the light. The things that seem so opposite to the light are the very things that bring us right into it.

We fight and we dig and we use all our might to get to the light. We refuse to give thanks and we believe the big lie: God isnt in the dark. We believe the lie that He must not be in the charge or must not love us and we show it by ignoring the most basic things He tells us to do in His word for world-made remedies and self reliance.

Whenever and wherever you read this today, know that the sun is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit whether its midnight at your house or youre shoveling snow.