“To dance in the rain, to swim in the sea, to walk through the forest — these are all acts of worship, a joyful play within the grand tapestry of God’s creation,” Unknown. I think God wants us to enjoy playing in his creation. He certainly gave us a sense of humor and the gift of laughter. And think what fun he had as he chose the colors of the butterflies’ wings and the curl of the squirrel’s tail. Thought about that as I watched a cloudless sulfur butterfly, yellow as the sunshine, dance through my yard this afternoon, bringing with it thoughts of the coming spring. God is present and involved in every moment of our lives, even when we’re at play.

Today is so pretty, warm enough to sit in the swing and ponder. I’ve enjoyed the porch and Penelope has enjoyed her nap in the sunshine. Father Sky sketched a robin egg blue sky and covered the sky in a thin veil of pale white clouds, the sky peeping through in several places. The sky is almost aqua as it stirs itself up in the white clouds.

Been reading in my quote book and ran across a quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a grey day. It’s not really a grey day but the literary quote is worth sharing. Fitzgerald wrote, “It was a grey day, that least fleshly of all weathers; a day of dreams and far hopes and clear visions. It was a day easily associated with those abstract truths and purities that dissolve in the sunshine or fade out in mocking laughter by the light of the moon. The trees and clouds were carved in classical severity; the sounds of the countryside had harmonized to a monotone, metallic as a trumpet, breathless as the Grecian urn.” I love these words, “breathless as a Grecian urn,” just conjures up beauty to me and the words “monotone sounds of the countryside.” I heard those sounds today but the symphony had a metallic wail of a freight train instead of a trumpet. Grey days are days of dreams and hopes, quiet days for reflection. In these days I count my blessings and the glorious colors in my life and dreams.

Just as clouds are essential for our life, so is faith in the Lord. Clouds have great influence on the Earth’s climate and weather. Sometimes we can’t find God through the storm clouds and sometimes the sky is sunny but our day is cloudy. Clouds can represent change in our lives and our moods. When some of us see the gray clouds of a overcast day it affects us and can make us gloomy and despondent but we’re joyful when we see the the round cumulus clouds, snow white and fluffy in the sunshine, beautiful against the blue sky. God has great influence in our lives and he is essential to living a life well lived.

“Clouds symbolize the veils that shroud God,” Honore de Balzac. God is always here with us, hidden from sight behind the clouds, but we can see God’s reflection’s in the sun’s rays on the clouds and in the colorful stripes of the rainbows. The Lord guided the children of Israel through the wilderness with a cloud. God writes his teachings on nature and the beauty of the world and I think we can find the Bible written on the images of the natural world. Psalm 96:11-12 reads, “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy.” It’s obvious the natural world loves God. He gives them their beauty in the seasons of life through his sun and his rain.

“Nature is God’s living, visible garment.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe