Life Lessons from a Shadow

Look at a shadow.

We may think there are no life lessons in a shadow.

 Really?

Could there be truth-in a shadow?

Shadows form where light is blocked. When an object blocks light, a shadow silhouette appears.

Shadows move as the sun moves in its circuit across the sky.

Sunlight moves shadows.

Shadows are beautiful when contrasted with brilliant white snow.

Ever marveled at the shadows created by the moon?

Winter shadows are long and mysterious.

There are truths about shadows.

A shadow cannot exist without light.

A shadow depends upon light…no light, no shadow.

Shadows never determine where to form, light does.

On a sun filled day shadows last long.

A partly cloudy sky makes a short lived shadow…cloudy days make weak shadows.

It’s about the light-not the shadow.

Shadows are not real, visible yes, but only a dark outline of something real. There are no details.

Shadows require a physical object to form.

You and I are like shadows. We forget how truly brief our lives are.

Life is but a breath someone long ago said.

We live, we die, in time there is no trace we existed.

Like a shadow, we are temporary.

We consider our intelligence powerful, expansive…

Honestly, we know nothing. Even our intelligence is shadow-like.

To even be a human shadow you and I need light.

Jesus tells us, “I AM the light of the world.”

There are life lessons in shadows…if we can see them.

 

What the Bible tells us about shadows:

First you and I…

We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace. 1 Chronicles 29:15

For we were born but yesterday and know nothing. Our days on earth are as fleeting as a shadow.       Job 8:9

For they are like a breath of air; their days are like a passing shadow. Psalm 144:4

Now God…and He is not a “shifting shadow”…He is entirely, forever trustworthy…

Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.   James 1:17

David EllisComment