January 7 – Winter Sunrise

Near Split Rock Lighthouse, the sun rises over Ellison Island, breaking through a veil of winter haze and casting its glow across the frozen surface of Lake Superior. Even in the quiet cold, creation feels alive.

In January, the sun never climbs very high in the sky. Its light travels farther through the atmosphere, softening into gentle purples and pinks reserved for the coldest mornings. Winter has a way of refining the light.

I didn’t plan this photograph. Sometimes photography happens. You wait in the cold, watching the horizon, trusting that something beautiful will unfold. Life can feel the same way. In the stillness, when nothing seems to be happening, God is quietly at work. He has been shaping circumstances for our good long before we recognize it.

“And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds.” — 2 Samuel 23:4

The colors fade quickly. The day moves on. But for a brief moment, everything slows enough to notice. Take time today to see the gift before you.