Look Up

It’s been my son who has inspired me to look up and pay attention to the sky.  When he was a second-grader studying weather, his teacher told them they were meteorologists and their job was to pay attention to the sky and the clouds.  He is now a rising sixth-grader who watches the sky constantly.  The cloud formations excite him.  My phone is filled with pictures of clouds and sunsets.  Some of his photography is shown below.  Now, even when he is not around, I still look at the sky.  I’m probably biased, but the sky over South Carolina is especially beautiful, breathtaking with its infinite blues, pinks, organs and, even purples.  The clouds can be thin wispy lines, or thick fluffy layers.  And every time you look up, there exists an original marvel.  To me, watching the changing skies is evidence that God is real.  

​Why does the sky change constantly?  Sure, there’s wind, and the motion of the Earth, and the constant progress of the water cycle, but, those things aren’t visible.  We don't see wind, we see evidence of it when it’s blowing leaves or dust.  We don’t see or even feel the motion of the Earth with its enormous girth.  We don't see the water vapor in the air.  The changes in the sky, however, are plainly visible.  Why?  Could it be that God makes it visible as a symbol of Himself.   To me, the changing sky and clouds illustrate that God, Himself, is living and active (Hebrews 4:12).
 
Life expectancy in the United States is about 78 years or about 27,768 days.  This is an average, so some people live longer than this, and others, of course, do not live this long.  One thing is certain, however, all of these days will not be our best days.  On some days we will experience pain or sickness.  On other days, we will experience emotional hurt, disappointment, or make a bad decision, then spend days in the future feeling regret.   On some of our days we will experience loss and subsequently suffer grief.   Some of our days will be memorable because we receive good news!  We experience the birth of our children, and nieces, and nephews, and grandchildren.  We attend weddings and parties.  We play, we laugh, we love, and we hug.  We are told in Ecclesiastes 3:1 that, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” 
 
The proportion of good days to bad days varies from person to person, and to some extent is a matter of perception.  If we look up to the sky on our bad days, we can see the promise of more good days to come.  The sky is in perpetual motion, just as our lives are.   Things happen.  Just as sure as a day can be marked by something terrible, it can also be marked by something magnificent.  When we experience great days, our prayer list is no shorter.  The cloud formations are changing at every moment.  There are times when we can see cirrus, cumulus, stratus clouds all at the same time in different parts of the sky.  The clouds are dark when a storm is brewing, but soon after we see thick, cumulus clouds backed by a bright blue sky.   We need only to give it time. I urge you to keep looking up.
 
 
Genesis 9:13
I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.

Genesis 9:13
I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.

​Job 37:16
"Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds, The wonders of one perfect in knowledge.


Have a blessed week!
Keep looking up!
Kim

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