Shadows

Making shadows on the wall was a favorite pastime when I was a little girl.
I could make a duck that appeared to be quacking.
I sometimes tried to make a crab crawl across the wall.
I was intrigued with the elaborate shadows that others were able to construct.

Peter Pan had an issue with his shadow.
After one of his many nighttime visits to the Darling house, Peter lost his shadow.
As he tried to escape through the window, his shadow was separated from him.
Wendy Darling put Peter’s shadow in a drawer, knowing that Peter would return.

When he came back, Wendy was able to sew Peter’s shadow back on for him.
Peter loved to listen to the bedtime stories that Mrs. Darling told her children.
Upon learning that Wendy knew many bedtime stories as well, Peter had an idea.
Wendy could return to Neverland, and tell bedtime stories to all the lost boys.

I always thought there was a sadness that surrounded the story of Peter Pan.
J.M Barrie wrote his famous story about the boy who never grew up after his own brother.
Barrie’s brother died in an ice skating accident before his fourteenth birthday.
His death devastated Barrie’s mother who said often that her son will never grow up.

I remember trying to step on my own shadow as a little girl.
The idea of another me beneath my feet was fascinating.
My shadow went everywhere I went and I could never get away from it.
It was much taller than I was, stretching well ahead of me as I walked.

I memorized My Shadow, by Robert Louis Stevenson as a girl.
It is a poem that I can still recite…mostly.

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there’s none of him at all.

He hasn’t got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he’s a coward you can see;
I’d think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

Much like a sundial, our shadow’s direction can tell time for us.
Stevenson knew what he was talking about when his shadow stayed in bed.
That lazy shadow must have slept until noon since the shadow was nowhere to be found.
Children’s poems as well as children’s literature are not just for children.

I saw an incredible shadow as we drove home on the turnpike.
As we drove through the western part of our state, steep walls of rock were on either side.
It was a sunny autumn day, with white puffy clouds in a brilliant blue sky.
The sun was shining in such a way that the clouds were making shadows on the rocks.

The shadows appeared to be moving along the rock’s surface.
As the shadows moved across them, the color of the rocks changed from light to dark.
I never saw anything like it.
It was as if God was taking His Divine paintbrush and applying gentle strokes of color.

I was mesmerized.
The same affect happened as we passed a field of high grass.
The way the clouds moved across the sky and over the field of grass was spectacular.
Shades of green and brown changed before my eyes; shadows and light doing a dance.

The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.
(Acts 5:12-16)

The people somehow thought there was something magical about Peter’s shadow.
They thought they would be healed as Peter’s shadow fell on them as he passed by.
God can heal through extraordinary means on occasion.
Examples: The hem of Jesus’ robe, facecloths and work aprons the apostle Paul touched.
(Luke 8:44 and Acts 19:12)

There was nothing special about the items.
It was not the item itself that healed.
It was the power of God working through the people to whom the items belonged.
It was the power of faith in the One who made the healing possible.

Shadow games on a wall.
Shadows dancing across rocks or fields of grass.
Shadows that lengthen and shorten according to the time of day.
Magnificent beauty that points to our Sovereign Creator God.

God really thought of everything.
God really does all things well.
God is there, in the simple and in the magnificent.
Find Him today where you least expect to find Him and be amazed.

2 responses to “Shadows”

1. I am constantly amazed by how many people don’t see God in nature–to me, he’s everywhere in this beautiful world. I’m so thankful for His gift of a creative mind to see all His glory–and I think everyone can develop this if they would take the time to really look.

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   • I agree, Sue. God is everywhere and so often we fail to see Him in the ordinary moments. We need to help each other see Him by pointing out those glimpses of glory.
     Gina

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