Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Big, Puffy Clouds




You should see the sky outside my window this morning!  The sky is a beautiful light blue color with the biggest, puffiest white, white clouds you've ever seen!  I really love to sit and watch the clouds, especially when they look like this.  When my son was little we would lay in the yard and watch the clouds, looking for familiar shapes.  He is almost grown now and much too old for laying in the yard with me, or so he thinks, but I still watch the clouds, usually from my front porch or my deck.  It's always amazing to me to see how they just float along on the wind, changing form as they're pushed and shoved and mix with other air currents. 

These clouds look much different than the clouds that went through here yesterday.  When you live in the central part of the country and you reach the spring of the year, it is inevitable that you are going to see big, black clouds.  You'll see clouds that are kind of green in color.  You'll see gray clouds.  There will be clouds that you can see right through and clouds that build for miles into the air.  All of them with their own lives, just passing through my field of vision.  They'll be entirely different looking when they get a little further down the road.

I was thinking how much like people these clouds are.  Some are beautiful.  Some are not much to look at when they first begin, but given time they build to big, beautiful, magnificent creations  Some rumble a lot but never really produce much.  Some are absolutely still but produce huge amounts of moisture in all kinds of forms.  They move through your life, sometimes leaving an indelible mark.  Most you forget ever existed. 

As I watch, what had been a huge cloud has become three smaller clouds with a large hole in the middle.  The atmosphere here changed it, just like the people around you can change you.  Isn't it amazing the effect some people have on you and your life?  They didn't really do much.  They were just there.  They were your friend or they did something really nice for you or they decorated the yard across the street from you.  Whatever they were to you, they've left a lasting impression on you.  You've changed, just like that cloud.  And you didn't even realize it was happening. 

In just the time it's taken to write this paragraph, the cloud is gone.  It has merged with a larger cloud and it now ceases to exist on its own.  Instead of three small, kind of thin clouds, it is one big powerful looking cloud.  It is better, it is stronger now.  When we reach out to others and make them a part of our lives, we are better, we are stronger.  Find someone today to care for.  Find someone to share with.  Just find someone, get outside of yourself for a little while and share yourself.  You'll be happier!  You'll be better, you'll be stronger!

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