The Golden Hour
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Acts 1:8
Photographers often talk about the “golden hour” of each day—the hour just before the sun slips beyond the horizon. The light, they tell us, is perfect, then. You’ve probably seen it? All of everything around us seems to glow with the murmur of heaven—the streetlights, the graffiti on the walls, the rainbow’d puddles of oil-slicked water, and the golden heads of wheat that bow to a gentle breeze.
The Golden Hour is here—right now—with these people in this place at this moment. Now. Heaven is all around us, and the Spirit of God invites us to awaken to a life where every ordinary moment shimmers with gold.
In her book, The Ministry of Ordinary Places: Waking Up to God’s Goodness Around You, author Shannan Martin puts it this way:
We get to love and be deeply loved right where we are planted, by whomever happens to be near. We will inevitably encounter brokenness we cannot fix, solve, or understand, and we’ll feel as small, uncertain, and outpaced as we have ever felt. But we’ll find our very lives in this calling, to be among people as Jesus was, and it will change everything.
The Golden Hour is here, right where you are. Jesus told us we would be his witnesses, first in the place where our feet are planted. At your kitchen table, in line at the grocery store, walking the dog with in your neighborhood, in the boardroom, on the other end of that phone call. This moment, right now, is what you are called to. This is the adventure of a lifetime.
Something to Do:
Take a few photographs of the light in your neighborhood, home, or workplace at the Golden Hour.
Something to Think About:
Where have I been planted? Who is it that happens to be near me?
Prayer:
Show me the golden moments in my ordinary days. Let me not take them for granted. Amen.
Explore more at the Theology of Work Project online commentary:
An Orienting Vocation for the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:8)
Deidra Riggs
Writer & Author
Deidra Riggs is a national speaker, an editor, and the founder and host of Jumping Tandem: The Retreat, a bi-annual event for writers, authors, and entrepreneurs. She is a storyteller who creates safe space for navigating...