Chasing Sunsets

The sunset last night was beautiful! Also, I turned 30 yesterday, and I'm not going to lie, I felt like the sky was a special gift just for me. I was on my way to run some errands before meeting up with friends for dinner, and as I backed out of the driveway, my eyes could not believe the colors that glowed across the sky. We're talking vibrant shades of pink, orange, and even some purple...it was amazing! Something came over me, and all I wanted to do was soak up the beauty of it all. I knew the colors would fade quickly, and that if I was going to enjoy the full display, I would need to get somewhere out in the open, where parts of the sky weren't blocked by a towering army of East Texas pine trees. 

I can't really explain why I felt such an urgency to chase the sunset, but suddenly the errands that I needed to run didn't feel important, and I just drove like my life depended on it. I drove from one side of town to the other, and it was amazing just how quickly the sky changed by the time I reached that open field. The sun was quickly going down, and the vibrant colors were going down with it. Also, I parked my car at the entrance to someone's property, and then got out and ran, yes, ran alongside a ditch for several yards in my cute heeled winter booties, only rolling my ankle a couple of times in the process. I literally chased after the sunset. I wanted to get the best view, and let's be honest, the best picture, where no power lines, trees, or buildings were in the way. I wished that I could've gotten there quicker. I wished that time would freeze, so that I could have more time to just delight in what had been painted across the sky. 

I stood there for a minute, wondering if the cars passing behind me thought that I was crazy. I'm wondering in this moment if anybody reading this will think I'm crazy, or too cliche, or that I should really find more hobbies to invest my time on, but I also feel like I gained something on my 30th birthday....some perspective, some hope, some reminder of the pure beauty all around us. I hope that my 30s are filled with more opportunities for chasing sunsets, and I hope that I do choose to chase them. There's no denying that the sun rises, and the sun goes down every day... I hope that in my 30s, I will stop often and long enough to see the beauty in each day. 

Time is such a strange thing. In some moments, in the thick of life, it can seem like time has frozen, the days just drag on and on, and I wish things would speed up a bit. In other moments, I'm left wishing that time would stand still, or at least slow down a little. If I've learned anything in my time on this planet, it's that we are only given so much time. The sun will set. The sun will go down. It was during that short time of standing and staring at those bright and beautiful colors in the sky that I was reminded what a gift this life is. Maybe, you have some literal or figurative sunsets that you're chasing after? Maybe, we can join together to acknowledge what's worth chasing after, and take time to really see the beauty of it?