Last night we ate dinner outside for the first time this summer. As we watched the sun sink towards the palisades across the river, the brightest tint of gold touching the bottoms of the clouds, Timothy said, \u201cI think I saw some cartoon where everybody claps for a sunset.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cSort of like clapping for fireworks,\u201d I said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut sunsets happen everyday,\u201d Tim said. <\/p>\n
We ate our fresh green bean salad and Carol\u2019s risotto, staring at the sky. It was a subtler work of art than the Fourth of July fireworks but no less magnificent. Actually more so because it spread across the whole sky and everywhere we looked the colors kept changing. The fiery globe disappeared from view and like a star who has introduced a tune, the clouds took up the song and riffed on it in their own sky-hogging way. They went from bronze to copper to an impossible purple. By the time you noticed something in one corner there\u2019d be something equally enchanting in another. <\/p>\n
\u201cIs this when we clap?\u201d I wondered. It wasn\u2019t like the fireworks. You knew when they were over. <\/p>\n
\u201cI guess so,\u201d Timothy said and the three of us gave a quiet round of applause that didn\u2019t sound like much in the patio beside the willow tree. But even then when the clouds turned gray and the color drained from the sky, the water in the river was a brilliant deep blue and the trees were silhouettes. What a beautiful night. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it matters when you clap,\u201d I decided. God\u2019s creation was a long-running show with thousands of new acts to applaud. Thankfulness would work any hour of the day. Still God must like it when we notice his especially florid numbers. <\/p>\n
Ever clap for a sunset?\n <\/p>\n
Rick Hamlin is the executive editor at GUIDEPOSTS.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last night we ate dinner outside for the first time this summer. As we watched the sun sink towards the palisades across the river, the brightest tint of gold touching the bottoms of the clouds, Timothy said, \u201cI think I saw some cartoon where everybody claps for a sunset.\u201d \u201cSort of like clapping for fireworks,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[31,64],"ppma_author":[476],"class_list":["post-17908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-positive-living","tag-gratitude","tag-nature"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n