I’m so enamored with this beautiful fall day I sat in the swing and watched the Alabama-Missouri football game on my iPad. A kaleidoscope of yellow butterflies was all over my yard. I love the word kaleidoscope used for a group of butterflies. Kaleidoscope fits them so well with all their beautifully watercolored wings. You can also call a gathering of butterflies a flutter. I love that, too. The cloudless sulfur butterflies flying around my yellow petunias are as yellow as the sunbeams, giving me moments of happiness watching them enjoying this glorious Saturday. The butterflies are dancing on the last blooms of fall, their beauty in contrast with the brown stems of the dying flower branches.

The yard symphony is so quiet late evening. My faithful cardinals are flitting around the feeders. The wind chimes are soft and faint, playing a haunting melody that floats on the slight breeze of twilight. One lone brown magnolia leaf is clattering down the street, drumming on the pavement as the wind pushes it along. I watched a whirlwind pick up the brown oak tree leaves, spinning them down the street in a spiraling circle. The magnolia leaf was too late to hop on the whirlwind carnival ride and dropped loudly on the street.

The clouds have stretched themselves thin and are holding hands, covering the sky canopy in a thin layer of vanilla clouds, slowly disappearing as the cotton tuft clouds float in. The sun is setting now, her bright beacon blinding me with its brilliant white light. Mother Nature has just picked up her watercolor brushes and highlighted the horizon in the palest of pinks. I’m waiting for her to color the surrounding clouds, anticipating what colors on her palette she’ll touch her brush to. She stroked the clouds in layers of pale peach and pale pink, blending them from lights to darks. The sky looks like a carton of rainbow sherbet.

Clouds serve their own purposes, cooling the earth by reflecting the sun’s rays, warming the planet on cold cloudy nights. Clouds hold rain and help water the Earth. When we look at the cloudless blue sky, we know that eventually clouds will come in and change our view. Troubles and chaos boil up in our lives like the storm clouds roll up on the horizon. Life isn’t all about the good times. When we go through trying times, we learn the grace to be humble and we learn to appreciate all the gifts and blessings we have in our lives. Sometimes the choices we make bring storm clouds on the horizons. Sometimes God sends the storm to test our faith.

Just like the sky has many shades of blue, our lives are full of color, too. The color of the sky is temporary as are the clouds that float into our life. No matter how blue our skies are we know the dark clouds will come and we’ll have to weather the storms while searching for rainbows on the horizon. We need the occasional storm to billow up in our calm blue skies to help us appreciate God’s blessings and gifts. Clouds color our experiences in life. When the sky is exceptional in its beauty, maybe God is talking to us, painting the sky with his love. Scripture says God directs the clouds. In Psalm 147:8 we read, “Who covers the heaven with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth.” When God sends the frightful storms, we know when they pass, he will light the coming day with sunshine and dress the horizon with a glorious rainbow. “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth,” Genesis 9:13.

They say “every cloud has a silver lining.” The silver lining tells us that life’s sad and unpleasant situations have a beautiful layer of God’s love in them. The silver linings in our lives come when we see the clouds on the horizon in a positive light. “If clouds are blocking the sun, there will always be a silver lining that reminds me to keep on trying,” Matthew Quick. We need to create positivity for the negativity to stay away. We can find the silver lining in our clouds with God’s love and mercy. Through our faith and our prayers we know the storm clouds on our horizon will be emptied of heartache with the bright beacon of hope that comes from believing God will send the rainbow when it’s needed the most.

When we look at the clouds we should remember this scripture: “Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds,” Psalm 36:5.

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” — Rabindranath Tagore