The Spiritual Sun of Grace

We all know that the sun makes things grow. Its gift of light and warmth are needed for the whole life of the plant. Because of what the sun gives, stalks rise up – leaves gather energy – the fruit ripens.

Within every human heart there is also fruit- inner fruit. This inner fruit is our higher self, our true humanity, and it is also ripening and growing. This ripening fruit of our higher self is our capacity to love God and all of creation in freedom. But unlike outer fruit, we don’t ripen through the gifts of the physical sun, we ripen through the light and warmth of the spiritual sun.

But even though this spiritual sun of grace is constantly gifting us, so much of the time we don’t feel gifted in anyway. So often, the spiritual sun seems to go behind the ‘clouds’ and we suffer under the illusion of feeling that we must do it all. If we are going to make it, we must figure it all out. If we are going to ripen and transform into our higher selves, it will be through our own efforts. So often we feel alone.

But we are not alone.

For even though we often suffer with the feeling that it is all up to us, nevertheless His rays of warm light are there. For His rays come to us in many forms:

• Receiving a new insight that changes the way we have seen things.
• Meeting a difficult situation that turns out to be just what we needed to grow.
• or the special deed of another that came at just the right time, in just the right way.
• Feeling the nourishing peace at communion touching our hearts

these are all gifts, rays of HIS sun that grow the inner fruit of our higher self. And when they find us, we know, because we feel carried, we feel strengthened by something greater than us.

For we are all called not to despair in our loneliness, but to discover more and more the grace of… “Christ in the lifting of our hands, Christ’s light in our daylight.”

This contemplation by Rev. Evans was inspired by John 2, the Wedding at Cana.