Above The Clouds The Sun Is Still Shining

Despite all the Bad News, Above The Clouds The Sun Is Still Shining

clouds

Yesterday I was sitting at the kitchen table, writing and looking out the window at the lake and the sky.  It was a cloudy day, threatening heavy rain.  The wind was blowing wildly. I could still see a tiny piece of blue sky, but as I watched, it too was covered over by the clouds.

But at that moment a thought popped into my head. “Above the clouds the sun is still shining”.  And I thought, “yes, that is true.”  Even though we can’t see it, we know it is there.  We may say “the sun has disappeared”, but in actual fact it is just covered by clouds.

If you have ever flown in a large airplane, you will know this.  The weather can be bad on the ground, but as the plane hurtles up and up and up, it eventually bursts through the clouds to the beautiful sunny sky.  Through the windows of the plane you can see the sunlight dancing on the tops of the clouds.  This is one of the things I love to see when I am flying.  The clouds look like soft pillows and you can imagine how comfortable they would be to lie on.  Of course, reality soon sets in and you realize that if you did lie on them you would soon be hurtling to the ground.

Remember back when you were a child (or when you played with a young child), if something was covered up, it was gone as if it no longer existed.  It seems we carry this idea throughout our life in some ways.  We worry and fret about things and complain about how they “should be”.  We seem to think that the good days are all gone and nothing will ever be right again in our lives.  We forget that the clouds are only temporary, that the sun will come out eventually. Even if they hang around for a week, the sun is still shining above the clouds.

We may be feeling overwhelmed by the clouds in our lives – financial problems, loss of a job, relationship problems.

We may allow ourselves to become discouraged, despondent, depleted.

It's at that time that we need to remind ourselves that these things are temporary, that the sun is still shining even when we can’t see it.

Think of life here on earth as an adventure filled with twists and turns. There are some adventures we love and others we hate or resist. We just need to be patient, to continue to work at solving the problems, believing things will all work out.  It's times like these when you need to surround yourself with positive people who will help you keep your spirits up.

There are some people who are obsessed with planning and controlling life. There is nothing wrong with planning but as we know, life has a way of changing the game when you least expect it.  Enter COVID19.  So it’s important to face things as they come.

To accelerate our personal growth we need to embrace each step even if it doesn't seem to make sense at the time. The universe is always preparing us for the next step of our journey.

I am sure you have heard the saying, “Into each life some rain must fall”?  Whether we are ready for it or not.  The earth needs the rain for the plants to grow.

Just like the earth, we need the rain to grow.  Too much sunlight can burn the earth, the flowers, the grass.  The clouds offer some protection and the rain refreshes.

Too much activity can burn us out.  We too need the cloudy days, the dull days, to allow us to rest and rejuvenate.

One of the biggest clouds in our life at the moment is probably the current pandemic.  But think about it.  Perhaps the clouds are there to keep you from being burned out.

Perhaps they are there to help you to slow down, to think about what you are doing and where you are going.

The COVID19 outbreak has forced many of us to stop, to re-evaluate our lives and what is really important to us, whether we wanted to or not.

We now have the time to stop procrastinating and to do all those chores on our to do lists.

We can stop waiting for life to be perfect and start working with what we’ve got.  Today we can call forth the riches from our everyday life.

Perhaps we can begin to read all those books we have lying arowritingund or maybe even write a novel. We can organize our papers (I’m trying), try a new recipe for dinner, sit and dream before a fire, or pick up a hobby that we have been neglecting.

Act as if you are grateful to be alive and scatter joy.  Call a friend and ask how they are doing. Then really listen to what they have to say.

We are grateful for those people who are considered “essential services”.  They risk their lives on a daily basis to keep the rest of us safe.

We see on the news, or hear about the many people who have contracted the virus as they work with people who are sick.

We read about the fact that they are working with limited or no special protection.  We may have loved ones who have become ill and are in hospital.

Those of us who are healthy are thankful that we are in our homes safe and well as we listen to the latest statistics.  We need to express our gratitude to those essential workers when we can. [If any of you are reading this… THANK YOU]

No one really knows where this will end, but we have hope that we will make it through.  Things will be different.  You can’t go through something like this and not make changes.

Hopefully we will retain many of the positive changes – being kind and thoughtful, taking time to be with our family and friends, slowing down and not being in such a rush all the time.  Making the connections with others more meaningful.

As I was continuing to write at the table, the clouds began to move apart revealing a band of bright blue sky and allowing the light of the sun to be revealed.

Around the world, the clouds are lifting and people are seeing sights that haven’t been seen in over 30 years, like the mountains in the Himalayas.  Lakes and rivers are becoming clearer and shipwrecks are being discovered, such as the one found off the Florida coast.

And so it is in our lives, gradually things get clearer, the clouds break open, revealing the bright sky above, filling us with light, reminding us once again…above the clouds the sun is still shining.

The most important thing is always to know and believe that the sun will come out again, that things will get better, that there is hope for the future.

Hope is what gets us through the difficult times.  Hope is sometimes the only thing we have to hang onto when we are going through difficult times, when everything around us seems to be falling apart.  Hope is a four letter word but it packs a huge impact.

A big part of hope is knowing that there is something better…so when cloudy days come, always remain hopeful.  Remember, above the clouds the sun is still shining.

Stay safe, stay well

Fran Watson

 

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