Look up

I remember once when I was in New York City taking a tour on top one of the big red tour buses and hearing the tour guide saying that a notorious characteristic of New Yorkers is that they rarely look up.   He pointed out that many of the landmarks of New York City and much of it's history are high up above ground level and encouraged us that while in New York to remember to look up or we would miss a large portion of our New York experience.  Since then I've tried to remember to look up, not just in New York, but at home as well.

I find that on the days I'm feeling the most discouraged if I remember to look up, not just spiritually but literally as well, my mind is taken off the burdens of the day.  The magnificence of the cloud formations and the stunning colors of the rising and setting sun seem to shout the existence of a greater plan, higher than I could ever comprehend with my finite mind.  And suddenly my problems seem so small. I've thought often how humans, such complex creatures, can be comforted by the clouds, perhaps one of God's simplest creations.

The amazing thing about clouds is that for all their beauty and majesty, their exact formations are so unique to the atmospheric conditions and lighting that they can never be duplicated or recreated.  They are fleeting moments of beauty that often pass by overhead noticed only by a few.  The only way to capture them as they are is in the form of a picture.  And so I've started taking pictures of clouds.

This last one was taken from the airplane on my way home from Ghana.