A Glimpse Through the Clouds

I was driving home tonight and it was one of those great nights. I had just come from a meaningful time with friends, there was nothing plaguing my mind and I was in one of those zones where I am not really thinking – just observing.

Then, I noticed the sky. It was not one of those beautiful sunsets that so many people write about or notice. It was an odd, cloud filled sky. It was not really stormy, but there was a cloud cover over a majority of the sky. The clouds were a grey and blue and a little yellow and oppressive. Sure, they were complex and amazing, but I wasn’t really comfortable with them. They looked like storm clouds – and ones that covered the sky. The clouds felt like my life. Not stormy. Not raining. But cloudy. Then I noticed that all around this cloud – just on the edges of the horizon – was blue sky. As I looked toward the edges, the perspective was so distorted that the cloud cover looked like mountains in the distance. Could this be the curve of the earth? Was I seeing the clouds wrap around the planet?

I spent a few minutes just in awe of this site that most people would probably just pass off as another front moving through life. But I was struck. Something deep within me was intrigued. Something was speaking to me? It was as if there was a voice in my soul, just beyond what I was capable of hearing, ready to speak great and marvelous things. But what? And how could I hear that truth?

As I was struggling to hear that still small voice inside of me, I saw a very small break in the clouds. Just a break, with a little light. I realized that in this break, I could see the top of the clouds – the top, bright, shiny, yellow-white clouds. Could this be the same clouds that I saw as oppressive?

And then, that small voice said, “That’s it.”

“What? What’s it?”

“That is what I see. When I look at these clouds, I see beautiful clouds reflecting the light that is shining on them. You thought the clouds were like your life and you are right. When you look at these clouds or your life, you see the dreary, complex, not quite comfortable, but I see the beautiful, well crafted, light reflecting clouds.”

And then it happened. The sun broke through the clouds in one of those blinding moments. A moment that causes you to squint, tilt your head, grab your sunglasses or just stop in your tracks. As the sun broke through, I knew that this was a moment. A life changing moment. I still saw the clouds. They were not dissipating. They did not magically disappear. But I barely noticed them. I could see little beyond the amazing light.

“See. I told you.”

The clouds no longer mattered. They were an essential part of that moment, but the light was the focus. And life will be complex. Beautiful. Dreary. Stunning. Oppressive. Freeing. But God, with that small voice that speaks to my soul, will always break through. Not always when I want or think, but when it is time. In a perfect moment beyond reason or knowing. In a breathtaking, mind-blowing, gentle moment. So in those cloudy moments – come Holy Spirit. In those dreary days – come, Lord Jesus. And in those oppressive phases – come Father, come!