The Choice of Joy: Day 16, Before the Sunset

It is a sight unique to this time of year, the sun shining through the west window of my living room.  In Spring and Summer the leaves are on the trees and block out the strong sun rays. 

But in January and February on a day clear of clouds, if you sit in a certain chair in my living room about 5:00 p.m., you can see it, the orangey rays coming through the curtain sheers of my west window.  The sheers soften and spread the rays, and the curtain folds add shading to the orange. 

There is just something delightful about the sun reaching into my home through those curtains.  The color is blazing, but not so hot that I can’t reach my hand out into it.  I look at my palm with the sunrays on it.  Open, close.  Open, close.  I cannot hold the light.  And that is good, that some things cannot be held within a fist. 

It is as if there is a huge, blazing fire outside.  There is, very far outside.  And there is something reassuring about the rays coming from so far away and into my living room, here, right here where I live. 

That reassuring gives me joy, at the sight.