“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset,” Ravindranath Tagore. Love this quote, probably used it many times. I’ve been porch pondering in the swing all day, watching the clouds play on Father Sky’s perfectly painted azure blue sky canvas. Clouds are really magical. Moist air that morphs and changes, provides life and water, helps cool and warm the earth. And at day’s end and day’s beginning the clouds are painted in bright or pastel pale watercolors that could only come from God and Mother Nature’s palette and paint brushes.

The sky was clean and clear most of the morning but as the clouds came floating in I got exited knowing Mother Nature would have a full canvas of clouds at sunset to embellish with her watercolors. I watched her create the whole sunset, constantly changing her masterpiece minute by minute. She started with brushing a pale butterscotch yellow on the horizon and washed the surrounding clouds pale pinks and light toned purples. She dressed the stage in bright yellow for the sun to dance the day away into night and the sun slipped down the horizon, picking up the sun rays of her vibrant gold pageant gown. With the sun down, Mother Nature then vividly brightened her sunset, bathing the horizon in ripe peach and turquoise and hot pink and tangerine orange. Every direction I looked I saw another stroke of color. Made me think of the glass apothecary jars of different flavored peppermint sticks, resting on glass counters and dusty wooden shelves in old country stores. Too beautiful to describe with words!

Under that magnificent sky, Father Sky kissed the sun good night and scolded the moon for showing me a sliver of himself before the sunset even began. After scolding the moon, Father Sky threw handfuls of diamonds from his velvet bag of jewels, high up in the navy night sky where they held on till the sun began to rise.

We are clouds on our journey in life. We morph and change with God’s handiwork. He colors our lives and we float down the path he’s chosen for us. We bump and crash and rock along on our journeys. Change is constant with clouds and we’re in constant change with the flow of life.

Clouds add color to the sunset. I hope I add color to someone’s sunset. I think we can choose to be a cotton boll cloud, round and full, enjoying the journey and changes life brings, happily kissed by the light, or we can be storm clouds, knowing rain will come along and fill us with anger, disgruntled as we morph and change. But all of us should look for the “bow in the sky” as God says in Genesis, knowing God’s love with help us weather the storms. He doesn’t always promise smooth sailing but he does promise rainbows. Imagine the cloud’s view of a rainbow!

Sanjay Sazzad said, “The more clouds you have in your sky, the more colorful sunset will be.” If family and friends are clouds we should have beautiful sunsets everyday as we travel through life. I think the light that shines from the top of the rounded clouds is a smile from God. I always think the clouds that are brilliant white on their crowns are kissed by the sunshine but they might be illuminated by God’s love. He exists in the light of the world.

It’s so calming to watch the clouds float along in the sky. I watched them all day perched in the swing. Clouds can teach us patience as we wait to see what shapes they change into. Clouds teach us to slow down and live in the moment. We race so fast through our skies in life we don’t enjoy the journey and before we know it our race is over. We’re at the finish line with regrets. I’ve said this many times, don’t dwell on the past and don’t worry about the future, enjoy and live each day well. God will give you peace when you pray for what you need and thank him for your blessings.

The most beautiful cloud formations in our lives come during the most mundane every day happenings. We don’t know these are the rainbows in our skies till they have faded away. Fluffy white clouds make us feel good and give us hope. Storm clouds blow in and scare us but God is with us in the storms and the sun will eventually peep through the gloom. You just have to have faith to wait out the thunder.

Do you realize there is never a cloud so dark that it blots out the sun? The sun is always shining above the clouds. There are not any clouds in our lives dark enough to diminish God’s love. His light is never dimmed.

“God puts rainbows in the clouds so that each of us — in the dreariest and most dreaded moments — can see a possibility of hope.” — Maya Angelou