I went to college and then lived several more years in a town where the sun hardly came out for six weeks straight in the winter. You could usually follow the sun if you had a few hours for a forty-five minute, one-way drive out of the fog, but if you were craving light in the middle of the work or school week, you were sunk.
It wasn't just hard on those with seasonal depression. It was easy to get engrossed in the routines and forget all about sunlight, until the first clear day came along. The change in mood on campus and all over town would be palpable. People smiled more, laughed more, and felt a load lifted from their shoulders. It only took one day of sunshine to remind us all how badly we needed it.
If you've ever grown a garden, you've seen how fast a new seedling will turn green when exposed to sunlight. While humans don't do photosynthesis, we benefit from the sun's rays just as much as plants do. Think vitamin D, think your-ability-to-process-calcium, think mood.
Jesus once again (as always!) knew what He was doing when He called Himself the light of the world. "He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." John 8:12
He's a light we need even more of than sunlight, a light that will give us even more benefits than a good dose of vitamin D.
For more information on sunlight and cancer, mood, healthy bones, immunity, arthritis, PMS, and more, visit the NewStart Lifestyle Club's page on Sunlight.
And then go outside to catch some rays, from the sun in the sky and the Sun of Righteousness.
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FABULOUS photo!! :)
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