I Heart Clouds

Cumulonimbus with rainbow one morning in Yap.

I've always loved clouds.  When I was about seven or eight, my dad bought a book about clouds. I couldn't read most of it, but I looked at the pictures a lot, which classified them by their types and names.  The names were kind of hard though, so I'm pretty sure my dad had to teach me those.  Of course my favorite was the tall, thundering cumulonimbus--well, still is my favorite.  My brother sometimes still makes fun of me for my cloud knowledge, and quizzes me when he happens to notice interesting clouds around.  I'm happy to show off my basic cloud classifying skills (which actually isn't super impressive, but it's more than my brother knows).

When I was in college, I took an outdoor education class for my youth ministry minor.  What did I teach those 6th graders at outdoor school?  Clouds, naturally.  Unfortunately, there were no clouds around until the last few classes came through, and it was like one tiny, translucent cirrus that lost it's way among the heavens, but the kids were still excited about identifying it by the end of our class session.

In Yap, my favorite place to sit, think, pray, cool off in the island breezes was "the deck."  It's this awesome place on the edge of the elementary school playground that overlooks a spectacular view of some hills and an ocean inlet.  My favorite thing to see from the deck, though, were the clouds.  Island clouds are awesome.  Always huge and puffy and glowing, or ominous, dark, and threatening.  And always, always changing.

Here at home, when I start to feel too isolated or caught up in worries about my future, I pause to look up and see the clouds, between trees and houses and hills.  It's like an art show in slow-motion, or gazing at majestic sky-mountains.  And my soul feels free again--like it opens back up to a reality that is bigger than just this ground beneath me. It's similar to what I feel when I pause to think about God.  How big He is in His glowing, vibrantly green throne room.  When I think about His power that holds together our planet, our galaxy, the universe--and if I am going to believe what the Bible says about His love for each of His children, and His promises for those who follow Him--well, I guess there's nothing I face that can hold me down too long. 

My heart expands and takes a deep breath...and feels a little closer to the clouds, sailing around in the sky.

Do you have any idea how God does it all,
   how he makes bright lightning from dark storms,
How he piles up the cumulus clouds—
   all these miracle-wonders of a perfect Mind?

Job 37:16 (NLT)