"Sunsets are so beautiful that they almost seem as if we were looking through the gates of heaven." John Lubbock

"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Yves Cousteau

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One of my favorite things about Glimsen is when readers and friends share their photos of beauty with me. They often say, “This made me think of you!” or “Here’s my Glimsen for the day.”

When you experience beauty, isn’t your first impulse to share it? And when you do, doesn’t it mean that much more to you?

I think that’s why, when we get back from vacation, we find ourselves holding up our phones to show people what we saw and maybe even texting them photos during the trip. It’s the contemporary version of mid-century slideshows and yellowed photo albums.

Sometimes, though, we may be a bit disappointed that our photos fall short of the real thing and our descriptions don’t do justice to what we experienced.

And that’s okay.

For me, capturing those moments and sharing them with others helps strengthen my memory and enjoyment of them. And I hope that what I do here at Glimsen inspires and uplifts you and makes you wonder where all this Beauty comes from. Why does it exist at all? And why does it touch us so deeply?

Maybe it’s a pointer, pointing to something else, or Someone else.

Sunsets and sunrises on the water seem to move most everyone and, I think, can even take us out of ourselves and whatever we are doing in the moment. In fact, both of these things are on the list of summer favorites I wrote about last week.

So I thought gathering the beauty you’ve seen in the sky over the water would be especially fitting for today’s post. Thank you to all who sent in these photos and other ones in the past. Please continue to do so! And your photo might just end up in a Glimsen post soon.

“A sunrise is God’s way of saying, ‘Let’s start again.’” — Todd Stocker

Mark Weihe, Sunset on Lake Lanier, Georgia

“This lake exceeds anything I ever beheld in beauty.” -Percy Bysshe Shelley

“So lovely was the loneliness of a wild lake.” -Edgar Allan Poe

"There is something magical about the way a sunset can make us feel at peace, grateful, and alive all at once." -Morgan Harper Nichols

“The sunrise, of course, doesn’t care if we watch it or not. It will keep on being beautiful, even if no one bothers to look at it.” – Gene Amole

"I could never stay long enough on the shore; the tang of the untainted, fresh, and free sea air was like a cool, quieting thought." -Helen Keller

Do you have any photos you’d like to share? Send them to me at glimsenblog at gmail dot com and I may use them in a future blog post.

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