First Sunrise

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday aka the start of Lent! Yes, I love Lent. While my childhood seasons were more along the lines of suffering 40ish days without chocolate or soda (pop for any northerners and coke for any atlantonians), I have really begun to enjoy the "add-on" concept for Lent. To me, this season is all about preparing my heart and getting my mind around the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on Good Friday. So while I still enjoy the challenge of giving something us and the "sacrifice" of no movies or no sweets, these days I get more excited about the things I am adding to my life for the next few weeks that will have me thinking and relishing in the Lord!
This year that involves watching at least 2 sunrises a week and writing on this thing every day. When I started this blog, my goal was to have it be my journal of my time here in Spain. I am not a good journaler in general and there was no way I was going to be writing in one every day about who I met or what I learned every day. Enter the blog. Big things I wanted to make sure I would remember and be able to share my experiences with my family and friends when I get home.
However, I do feel like I can learn a lot about myself and how I see God moving in and around me every day by writing a few thoughts down here. So welcome to Lent everybody (no one reads this blog)!

First sunrise - 7:45 a.m. Roquetas de Mar
I got up around 7:25 and headed outside. It was pretty windy but thankfully the sunrise is right smack in the middle of my view of the sea so I got to use the big "no one knows why this building is here" building as a wind shield. I see a few birds, back for the spring!, and a dog barks but no one out and about as of yet. 7:35 rolls around and some people exercising start to pass me. Only 4 in the end. The sky is getting lighter but I still can't determine where exactly the sun is going to rise or if clouds will block it completely. Then I start to see a break of pink right in front of me. No where else on the horizon is there pink so I'm betting this is where the sun will rise! And then, like I would never have been able to imagine, a bright streak of orange breaks across the sea and bursts into the sky. The sun slowly makes its way further into the sky and a boat on the horizon looks miniscule compared to the big, orange ball. Truly beautiful. A real WOW moment for sure. The first man who passed me earlier starts to walk back and recognizes that I wasn't a creeper but had been waiting to see the sunrise - ha! In only a matter of minutes the sun has broken free of the horizon and is pushing higher and higher. I really wonder how if that only took minutes, how in the world does the sun stay in the sky for so many hours each day.
A beautiful sight. Definitely glad this will be happening farely regularly in the next few weeks :)

watch the view
breathe in deep
awaken while the world's asleep
dispel the dark
usher in the light
with just one ray - there goes the night!