Sat on the porch for a long time today. The air was cool but the day so pretty. Penelope, in her turquoise rose sweater, slept under her colorful fox blanket in the play pen. The sky was in layers, thick and white on the top and bottom, perfectly straight, with a turquoise hued horizon in the middle. My grandmother used to take neapolitan ice cream out of the carton and cut it with a knife for dessert at her bridge club meetings. The sky reminded me how pretty the slice of ice cream was. Ralph Waldo Emerson called the sky “the daily bread of the eyes.” That’s so true for me. When I study the sky with my eyes, I’m reminded I am but a spec on this beautiful journey on the planet Earth. I love watching the sky creating and rearranging herself all day and ending at the day’s dusk as a magnificent watercolor painting by Mother Nature.

Mother Nature has changed the paint on her palette. She’s choosing beautiful pale colors lately. The sky was so handsome today, muted colors at sunset in honeys and turquoises and dark purples after the sun lay her head down in a blaze of bright light. Still decorating the big cedar Christmas tree so I didn’t pay attention to Father Sky’s nighttime duties. Think I’ll go have a peek right now and see if he hung any diamonds in the night sky. Kinda cool, so the jewels might be hiding under their cloud covers.

Could only see three diamonds in the sky, not enough to make a necklace for the sky canvas, and the moon was hiding. Don’t know how he’s dressed tonight, could not see him anywhere, not even through the top of the bamboo forest. He’s probably sleeping under the purple cloud covers of tomorrow’s rain clouds. Even on the darkest night, a star can guide our way, just like the three Wise Men, we can follow that star home. God will show us our way and guide us with his wisdom and grace.

The clouds have been building all day, blankets of dark grays and purple shapes, filling with moisture to drop on Mother Earth. Clouds carry rain and usher in the storms. We have clouds that form and float through our lives. Each cloud tells a different story. Some of the clouds are beautiful and add color and new challenges to our days. Other clouds loudly announce themselves with thunder and lightning and send us fleeing for cover. We can always find refuge from stormy times in the arms of Jesus. Through prayer and thanksgiving we can lay our storm burdens down and know he hears our prayers and keeps us safe in his love.

I’ve always heard that the most beautiful sunsets need cloudy skies. When I look at my nephew and my oldest grandson, I can see a beautiful sunset after the storms of their illnesses. They both have a luminous smile, like they know they have weathered a dangerous storm, and can now see the magnificent rainbow of their lives. They appreciate life and it shows on their faces. I have no doubt these two young men will leave their mark on the world and make it a better place for others.

Maybe we need clouds in our lives. We can’t have rainbows and sunshine everyday. We need the storms and the thunder and lightning to shake us back into reality to appreciate all the blessings we have. We rock along self-satisfied in our cloudless day and God drops a rock in the road for us to stumble over. We need to walk in God’s wisdom. We stumble when we stray from our faith. In reality, God doesn’t drop the rock, we choose to walk down the rocky path facing the consequences of our choices.

When we stumble as we walk through life, God is always there to help us back up. His hands reach out and point us in the right direction. He doesn’t force us to walk his path, he gives us a choice. We just have to have enough faith to trust his directions, to let go and let him lead us. Sometime we don’t like the path he’s chosen for us but the more we walk down that path, deepening our faith, we realize he’s guiding us to our heavenly kingdom to be reunited with our love ones in the glory of heaven.

“There will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends on how you use them.” — Friedrich Nietzsch