His title was Baron Rayleigh, technically speaking, he was the third Baron Rayleigh, his father being the second one, and the first was his grandmother 1st Baroness Rayleigh. The whole Raleigh title sounds wildly noble, like all things British, but it really came down to this, the Barons and Baroness of Rayleigh owned quite a bit of land in Essex County and raised dairy cows. To put it bluntly, the third Baron Rayleigh was a glorified dairy farmer… that is until he went to Cambridge University and answered the thorniest question a toddler has ever asked their parents.
I’m Scott Beyer and this is the Love Better podcast where we explore the truths and lies about love and more importantly how to turn love into a skill – something we can get better at and hone along the way.
The third Baron Rayleigh’s name was John William Strutt, and besides being a successful dairy farmer, he was also a brilliant mathematician. Coming from a privileged background, Lord Rayleigh received a prestigious education. He attended Harrow School, a renowned boarding school in England, and later enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1865, he graduated from Cambridge with a bachelor's degree in mathematics as the Senior Wrangler, an accolade given to the top mathematics student. Forget about the rest of what I’m going to talk about and just fixate with me for a second on the fact that if you go to Cambridge, you can become a Senior Wrangler – it is like the mathematics department needed to make themselves sound tougher so the athletics department wouldn’t pick on them so much.
Aside from the Senior Wrangler title, Strutt's true brilliance lay beyond numbers and equations. He had a burning curiosity about the world around him—a hunger to unravel its mysteries. And when given the chance to take charge of the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge – he jumped at it.
Rayleigh was fascinated by light – and in particular – why the sky was blue. It shouldn’t be blue – it should be transparent, because air is transparent… but it wasn’t, and it isn’t… and that is why every toddler in the history of the world has asked the same question, “Why is the sky blue?”. So, in 1871 Lord Rayleigh like the biggest, smartest toddler ever published a paper entitled”On the Light from the Sky, its Polarization and Colour” in the Philosophical magazine of the day.
The short answer – the sky is blue because of a phenomenon named after Lord Rayleigh – Rayleigh scattering. As light hits the atmosphere, it bounces off of the nitrogen, oxygen, and other particulates in the air and it turns out, some light bounces better than others. Blues and greens scatter quickly and disperse across the sky bouncing all over – hence the sky is blue… but the oranges and yellows don’t scatter so much, which is why the sun is yellow to our eyes. Rayleigh scattering explained why the sky appears blue during the day and it also provided insights into the colors observed during sunsets.
Sunsets are special because as the sun sinks below the horizon, it has to travel through even more atmosphere to reach us, and that means the blues scatter so much you can’t see them, and so all you are left with is the brilliant oranges, yellows, and reds that light up the sky. When the sun starts to set – light takes the long view and the colors change.
Which is a little bit like life. As we reach the sunset years of life, we begin to take the long view of things. There seems to be a scattering that happens in our priorities and life. Solomon, in a fit of inspired poetry, describes the aging process in Ecclesiastes 12. Here is just a smattering of Solomon’s wisdom from that chapter on life as we age.
[Ecc 12:1-3, 6-7 NASB95] 1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, "I have no delight in them"; 2 before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain; 3 in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men stoop, the grinding ones stand idle because they are few, and those who look through windows grow dim; ... 6 [Remember Him] before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; 7 then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
The aging process, which I shall continually refer to as the sunset years from here onward, leads to a lack of interest in a great many things. You may have noticed that as those around you near their sunset, scattered are their interests in things like travel, culinary delights, or world conquest. As we age, the things that fill our lives with meaning during the daytime of our lives – career, entertainment, physical activity, and the pursuit of the new and exciting are scattered to the wind.
My neighbor recently had his roof redone and while the young men lugged shingles up and down ladders, a foreman in his eighties sat watching them from the shade – it was entirely appropriate. I can’t imagine it any other way, could you? If the young men sat in the shade while the old man lugged shingles, I would be incensed. Old men are meant to sit in rocking chairs on front porches watching the sun go down, young men should toil in the heat of the day.
And part of that is because, just like Rayleigh scattering, they have taken the long view. The blues and greens of life like money, fame, and power have scattered and their age gives them perspective of the long wavelengths - the reds, yellows, and oranges that really set our world ablaze. Family, faith, the legacy of character, the eternity of the soul, heaven, hell, and being right with God. In short, the sunset years, help us learn what to really love. Ideally, we don’t wait until the sunset years to find that perspective though. If we want to love better, we need to learn to love like we are in our sunset years already.
Which is why history, and the Bible in particular, is full of speeches for the old to the young. As his time to die drew near, David charged his son, Solomon to become a man and walk in the way of the Lord. Isaac called for his two sons, Jacob and Esau, to bless them as he saw his own death approaching. Moses spoke to Joshua as the torch was past from one generation to another, and even Jesus made a clear effort to spend specific time strengthening His closest disciples as He neared the end of His time on earth.
Each generation seems to show the same intense desire to make sure that wisdom gets past on before their lives slip over the horizon for good. Why is that? Because one thing that the sunset years teach is that wisdom is of greater value than riches and honor. As the sun starts setting our life, wisdom has a way of outshining the others. Proverbs is packed with examples of this:
[Pro 2:2 NASB95] 2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding;
\Pro 3:21 My son, let them not vanish from your sight; Keep sound wisdom and discretion,
[Pro 4:7 NASB95] 7 "The beginning of wisdom [is:] Acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, get understanding.
[Pro 7:4 NASB95] 4 Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," And call understanding [your] intimate friend;
[Pro 8:11 NASB95] 11 "For wisdom is better than jewels; And all desirable things cannot compare with her.
[Pro 10:13 NASB95] 13 On the lips of the discerning, wisdom is found, But a rod is for the back of him who lacks understanding.
[Pro 16:16 NASB95] 16 How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver.
[Pro 19:8 NASB95] 8 He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; He who keeps understanding will find good.
Time and time again, Proverbs tells the young to seek and love wisdom. Why? Because wisdom is designed to make you think with the long view in mind. If you wait until you are old to gain wisdom, it might not be of much use… but if you can learn to love wisdom before the sunset years – you will be ready for what might come your way.
So sunset love means you love getting wiser. Which means surrounding yourself with diverse sources of wisdom, not just your peers. Find that older person and make yourself their apprentice. Buy them a cup of coffee and gain insight from their sunset years. Read widely, develop critical thinking skills, be curious and reflective. Choose rolemodels and mentors and choose them with intentionality. Find individuals that inspire you and possess qualities and skills you admire. Practice active listening – pay attention to those that disagree with you, engage in meaningful conversations… and plan to fail. Embrace failure as an opportunity to gain wisdom and grow. Setbacks are the stepping stones by which we move forward in wisdom. And while you are at it – read Proverbs, A LOT. Wisdom is more than intellectual knowledge, so saturating yourself in the book of Proverbs will soak God’s teachings on wisdom into your marrow.
The other wonderful thing about the sunset years is that sunsets are beautiful. Ecclesiastes tells us that the “end of a thing is better than the beginning of a thing”. Learn to love where you are. We can get caught up in loving the early stages of things – or reminiscing so much about the past that we don’t love where we are. When it is raining, we complain about there not being enough sun, and when it is sunny, we complain because it is too hot.
Enjoy every stage of parenting, every stage of your marriage, and every stage of your age. Babies are great, but teenagers can be wonderful, too. It is great when your kids grow up and leave the house, and it is great when you have them tromping around the halls like wild elephants. One thing the sunset years teach you is to realize that everything comes to an end and that you can enjoy the end as much as, if not more, than you enjoyed the beginning. The beginning of your marriage, sometimes referred to as the honeymoon phase, is fantastic, but if you do it right, the years where you grow old together, finish each other’s sentences and still hold hands even after all the bumps in the road can be so much better. Sunrises are great, but sunsets are even prettier. Sunset love embraces contentment and finds the beauty in finishing things.
Which brings us to another odd fact about sunsets – as the sun goes down, so does the noise level. Unless you are in a very urban environment, the natural world naturally gets quieter around sunset. Animals soften their calls, birds quiet their songs, and even insect chirping begins to diminish. Sunset signifies the transition from daytime to nighttime, and many animals, particularly diurnal species, become less active or seek shelter as darkness falls. Birds return to their nests, insects retreat, and animals that are active during daylight hours begin to settle down.
And it isn’t just animals, our circadian rhythms, also known as your internal biological clock kicks in and as sunset approaches, our bodies naturally begin to prepare for the rest and rejuvenation of nighttime. This can lead to a decrease in energy levels and a sense of calmness, contributing to a quieter atmosphere.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon says, “One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind.” Watch people in the sunset years of life – they tend to have a greater appreciation for slowing down. Not everyone, but most. We spend an awful lot of our time scattered and chasing things that don’t matter only to realize later on that if we had slowed down a little bit we might have captured the things that really mattered.
In the Old Testament, God gave the Israelites the Sabbath as a way to slow down and reflect on what mattered at least once a week… and in the New Testament, Christians are called to reflect, self-examine, and slow down every Sunday to remember what Jesus did for us, and why He had to do it. Sunsets teach us to calm down, put energy into the relationships that matter, pursue self-reflection which leads to personal growth, and be grateful.
Many a Christian has reflected later in life that they wish they had spent more time praying, meditating on God’s Word, and investing in relationships with others. Don’t wait until the sunset to slow down. The sunset years will make you slow down, but ideally we pursue those things before life makes us.
Which brings me to the last thing about sunsets. Every sunset that has ever happened on this planet was unique. No two are alike. The colors are affected by the particulate in the air, the topography of the land, and even the temperature. Every sunset is beautiful in its own way.
Maybe you are in your sunset years. Maybe you are just trying to be prepared for them. Maybe you are at the sunset of a stage of life that leaves you wondering what will come next. Maybe you are watching someone who you love dearly turn their face toward their sunset years. This sunset, whatever it is, is unique. There is something special in it. If there is anything Jesus has taught us, it is that the death of a thing can lead to something very far better.
Embrace the sunset. Learn to love the end of things.
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