You are walking along the street on a bright, sunny day and it’s following you around, tracking your every step. In the darkness, it says ‘good night’ and disappears. What is it? It’s your shadow!

A shadow is a dark shape that’s made when something blocks light. Wikipedia defines is as “a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object.” Take a look around and you will see any living or non-living opaque object that can block light can cast shadows – park benches and swings, trees, cars, tables, and you.

You must have a source of light in order to have a shadow, and the size of the shadow depends on the angle at which the light is falling on the object. Have you noticed how your shadow keeps changing throughout the day? Sometimes it’s long, usually in the early morning and the late afternoon; sometimes it’s short like around midday; and when the sun is overhead, there is little or none at all. As the position of sun changes throughout the day, the angle at which the sun’s rays fall on the ground also changes causing the length and position of your shadow to change also.

It’s been said that the Egyptians invented the first portable clock, the shadow clock – a complete Sundial, possibly the first of its kind – around 1500 B.C to divide their time more efficiently. Based on the concept that shadow length and position were different at different times of the day, this timepiece divided time in several chunks called the “hours”.[1]

Notice how your shadow seem to always chase after you? As the light source is moving, the direction that the light rays fall on the object also changes. This movement of light from the source makes the shadow move. This got me thinking about God and His unspeakable love for mankind.

God is the source of light that shines on us impervious, sinful human beings. As His light rays illuminate us, we are overshadowed by His love – a stubborn love that continuously chases us so that we are never alone. The closer we are to Him, the more we experience His love. As we go through life, we experience His love in different ways… just like shadows. We look forward to the time when His Son will be directly overhead, overseeing all the affairs of the universe as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Then His love and our love will fuse into one and there will be no shadow.  In the meantime, let’s rejoice that we are living in the shadow of God’s love.

[1] http://kinooze.com/what-is-time/