Never Give up on a Sunset

There’s a lesson that this lake teaches us every year…be patient. Considering how many years we have been coming here you would think we would know it by now. But there we were last night, in class again.

Pam headed out for her sunset paddle too early. Our neighbor, Michael, took this picture with his real camera. That’s her out there with the sun still over an hour away from slipping past the horizon. 

But then it got hazy and the clouds started to thicken. By the time she returned to the dock we were both thinking that the sunset would be a dud. Suddenly, just as we settled in our chairs for the evening we noticed a brightness in the room…

None of the pictures I took were able to capture it. From this point it began to expand north and south. Multiple colors began to arrive, painting the cloud layers with new light, setting the lake on fire. You’ll have to take my word for it, or come see for yourself. 

Looking at these two photographs, its hard to believe they were taken on the same evening, on the same lake. A mere hour made that much difference. We are always surprised by this. We shouldn’t be. We watched this unfold from about 8:15 until 9:00. Every time we looked something had changed, something we hadn’t noticed before, something new and astonishing. 

The experience has gotten me thinking, sometimes a dangerous thing. How often have I given up on something prematurely, some thorny situation, a difficult project, even another human being? Suppose I had just stepped back and given the situation time to grow? Would a bit of patience have rewarded me? Living on this lake forces you to be patient. There is no other option. The weather changes on a dime, so you wait until it blows over because it always does. Yesterday started calm, turned windy, started with clear blue skies only to have a torrential downpour rumble through for 30 minutes in the middle of the afternoon, then clear out again. By nightfall, the lake was once again as still as glass. Patience.

Back home I tend to want everything five minutes ago. I have a difficult time waiting for anything. Why should I? Nearly everything a human being could want or need is available to me after a two minute drive. I have become accustomed to instant gratification. FedEx and UPS are on my payroll and my internet is as fast as lightening. But not up here. It takes time to do anything. There are two photographs in this blog. It will take a while to download. Might have to try several times before it works. The result of it all is that I am slowing down. Step by step my pace of living is starting to match my enviroment. This morning I will finish my second Kristin Hannah novel in the four days since we arrived. My screen time has plummeted and with it what feels like a burden is lifting.