Remarkable

 Remarkable

It has been fascinating to watch the skies at sunrise, sunset, and the hours in between. I have been drawn upward by the sun, clouds, moon and stars. I can be enticed even on the days when the sun refuses to shine and the vast panorama of clouds seethe and churn darkly. Occasionally the clouds are charged with twists of lightning and stirred by the deep rumbles of thunder. Sometimes the ground shakes beneath my feet as the lightning flashes are close causing the earth to quiver responding to the roar of thunder..

Sometimes the clouds are only a misty veil. It stirs, just thick enough to play a game of hide-n-seek with distant mountain tops. Sometimes the clouds sag low wrapping the trees and bushes with a damp blanket of fog yo cover the ground with a thick blanket of cotton. When the cloud is rolled away, the grass is covered with dew tat sparkles as the sun or moon rises.

The moon appears as a celestial orb, full faced and bright or as thin slices. The night shaves away slivers of light to make sickles of light. The moon becomes the smile of the Cheshire cat or fishhooks that snag stars from the dark night sky. Slowly the stars fade as the night ends and the sun begins to rise. This is where another remarkable fantasy begins. The sun’s rays pierce the darkness and dance on the passing clouds. Pale yellow light cuddles with the surface of the clouds. The light intensifies, turning the rosy glow into colors of glorious orange-gold or into a blazing hot red hue. Then the sun itself rises. It shows its brilliant face above the horizon and the clouds reclaim their virginity, white and pure.

The clouds scurry across the sky pushed by prevailing breeze. The sky’s color may vary from a pale milky blue to a deep azure blue. The wind swirl the clouds like creamer in a cup of coffee. The sun continues its journey overhead. Its path marked by shadows that the light paints on the earth beneath. Hour by hour shadows lengthen as it nears the end of the day and the time for the sun to put on its pajamas and go to sleep. The sun leaves goodbye kisses on the clouds to create fantastic scenes of light and as it settles in for the night. The sunset colors rival the morning’s sunrise, but in reverse. As the light lessens and the sun finally slips below the horizon, I sometimes think that we are looking at the underside of heaven, what will our actual view of heaven be like. It’s too grand for me to imagine. Remarkable.