The sunsets of life

For date night on Friday, Lisa and I went out to dinner with my sister and her husband. Afterwards we drove home, pulled in the driveway. We then decided that it was too early for us to go home and hang out, which involves changing into basketball shorts and tee shirts and watching something on Netflix. Instead we went for a drive. The last time we went for a night drive, Lisa was pregnant and got kind of car sick, so it has been a long time coming. As we were driving around, the sun started to set. We were up in the Olympus cove and over by Wasatch Blvd., and we saw the most marvelous sunset.

To digress a little in the story, I have always loved to watch sunrises and sunsets. I don't know whether I was born elderly or what, but it has been one of my innate joys. Maybe what I like so much about them is that they are easily appreciated by anyone, anywhere. There is no age limit or income needed to see such ornate beauty. It is one of the few universal experiences in this world. Whether in Salt Lake City, and the sun sets over the Oquirrh mountains, in South America where the sun sets over the Andes Mountains or Pacific Ocean, or on some distant tropical island, with the right conditions it is a sight to behold. All it takes to appreciate are slowing down a little, and a little less egoism.

To return to my story, we were driving around, and we saw the sunset, and two things crossed my mind. The first was I wished I had a camera on me, and the second was I wondered how many other people right now in Salt Lake were looking at it too.

This gets to the point of the whole blog post. How many times do we pass over such beautiful blessings of our Heavenly Father? I think that the most simple things like sunsets are some of the greatest ways that He shows us that He loves us. Some of the answers to some of my most sincere prayers have been answered by sunrises or sunsets. I knew I was to serve a mission while on Pioneer Trek in Wyoming after my senior year. I woke up at about 4:30, so I got up to walk around. A few minutes later the sun rose over the mountains and it was amazing. One of the councilors in the Stake Presidency came up to me, and told me that was for me. It was that moment that I knew what I was supposed to do.

Something else that has really shaped my thoughts on appreciating the present has been since I became a father. Almost every night, I feed Nolan, burp him, and then lay him on my chest and shoulder. He usually falls asleep there, and honestly I could spend eternity with that little guy sleeping on me. He usually grabs the collar of my shirt and rests his other hand over my back. It is the favorite part of my day. I realize it is soon that he will not want to even hang out with Lisa and me, and we need to live it up now when I can at least put him in the situation to bond with me.

Basically, the whole purpose of this post is to become more aware of the experience of mortality. If we are too busy doing things of little eternal importance, we can pass over life changing experiences like a sunset or other ways that our Heavenly Father expresses his feelings for us. Let us look around, become aware, and appreciate the unnoticed blessings we are so often receiving.

Chris