Under a Cloud

We can speak without voice to the trees and the clouds and the waves of the sea. Without words, they respond through the rustling of leaves, the moving of clouds and the murmuring of the sea.

Paul Tillich

It had been a particularly hectic day. Appointments, meetings and a to-do list growing like a weed, unplanned and uncontrolled. At 7:15 pm, I walked to my car and sat behind the wheel for a moment, dazed, before starting the car. The drive home was robotic. The kind of travel where you arrive at your destination with no recollection of how you got there. Slowly pulling the car in the garage, a weariness settled over my body. Muscles, softly sinking over bones, weighed me down and I felt an overwhelming need for sleep and escape.

Walking into the kitchen, I hung my purse on the chair and placed my lunch bag in the cupboard. Two minutes later my cell phone rang. My reaction was one of swift aggravation. What now? With a sense of agitated surrender, I answered the phone. An excited, jubilant voice at the other end shouted, “Look outside, look outside!”

Reluctantly, I walked to the bay window in the dining room and looked out. My breath flew back into my lungs! There, before me, were stunning, radiant clouds lower than I had ever seen them. I grabbed my phone and ran outside. A billowing mass floated in front of me. Bright white, rainbow sherbet, dusty gray, and luminous yellow clouds were floating down below the tree line. They were the clouds you see out an airplane window, not standing on the ground in your driveway!

I stood still. The energy began to shift as relaxation washed down over my arms and legs. A sense of well-being and contentment followed as I lightened and lifted. The stress of the day evaporated away. My inner world and the outer world of nature merged into one harmonious flow. Where I had felt “under a cloud”, I now felt “on a cloud”…in high spirits and exceedingly happy! Standing on the threshold of something greater than ourselves invites this transformation.

Nature graciously provides this opportunity every day.