Head in the Clouds
Danielle King / Webmaster and Data Administrator
I have always enjoyed looking up at the sky. Since childhood, I have loved to watch the clouds blow across the sky on a windy day, to see big puffy cumulus clouds on the horizon, or streaks of wispy clouds covering us like a thin blanket. Looking out over a distance, I love to see their shadows crossing the earth, or the streaks of light breaking through them in pockets. And I haven’t even mentioned sunrises or sunsets! Even the night sky can catch me by surprise, when I first notice that the stars have shown up all at once while I wasn’t looking - especially when I am away from the bright lights of home and can actually see many of them.
As a child, I remember being in the car and looking up at the clouds (honestly, I couldn’t see much else from the backseat). I was sure that Heaven was just on top of them, and I kept looking for an angel to peek over the edge. My imagination was filled with people walking along the cloud tops.
Not long after, I took my first airplane ride. I was too amazed by the view ABOVE the clouds to be disappointed that Heaven wasn’t up there. Eventually I learned that, despite what it looked like and what the cartoons showed, clouds were just misty collections of water drops instead of dense, fluffy cotton balls.
That reckoning was tough to swallow, but the sky still fills me with a sense of wonder. The shapes, colors, and vastness are a regular reminder of the size of the world, and the size of the Creator who made it. It’s a reminder of His goodness and beauty. Sometimes it’s a reminder of His mystery and power. Most of all, it’s a reminder that He is in control of things, and we are not.
It’s also more than just beauty that keeps me looking up. C.S. Lewis writes in some of his books about our longing and desire for the world beyond this one. Lewis wrote that beauty in this world is “only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage,” (from “Mere Christianity”) and beautiful things “are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.” (from “The Weight of Glory”)
The beauty of this world hints at the hope and glory of what’s to come in the next one and stirs a longing in me for it. Maybe it’s why staring up at the sky never gets old, and why I never feel I’ve looked at it long enough to be satisfied before it’s time to look back down at what’s in front of me. The skies have always been my connection to that longing and hope and are there to remind me of God's promises. Again, C. S. Lewis says it well:
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| Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash |
I have always enjoyed looking up at the sky. Since childhood, I have loved to watch the clouds blow across the sky on a windy day, to see big puffy cumulus clouds on the horizon, or streaks of wispy clouds covering us like a thin blanket. Looking out over a distance, I love to see their shadows crossing the earth, or the streaks of light breaking through them in pockets. And I haven’t even mentioned sunrises or sunsets! Even the night sky can catch me by surprise, when I first notice that the stars have shown up all at once while I wasn’t looking - especially when I am away from the bright lights of home and can actually see many of them.
As a child, I remember being in the car and looking up at the clouds (honestly, I couldn’t see much else from the backseat). I was sure that Heaven was just on top of them, and I kept looking for an angel to peek over the edge. My imagination was filled with people walking along the cloud tops.
Not long after, I took my first airplane ride. I was too amazed by the view ABOVE the clouds to be disappointed that Heaven wasn’t up there. Eventually I learned that, despite what it looked like and what the cartoons showed, clouds were just misty collections of water drops instead of dense, fluffy cotton balls.
That reckoning was tough to swallow, but the sky still fills me with a sense of wonder. The shapes, colors, and vastness are a regular reminder of the size of the world, and the size of the Creator who made it. It’s a reminder of His goodness and beauty. Sometimes it’s a reminder of His mystery and power. Most of all, it’s a reminder that He is in control of things, and we are not.
“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (ESV)
It’s also more than just beauty that keeps me looking up. C.S. Lewis writes in some of his books about our longing and desire for the world beyond this one. Lewis wrote that beauty in this world is “only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage,” (from “Mere Christianity”) and beautiful things “are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.” (from “The Weight of Glory”)
“Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” Hebrews 11:16 (NIV)
“I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.” (from “The Weight of Glory”)
For a season, I think I stopped looking at the clouds and sky. Life was busy with college classes, new jobs, apartments and houses, and growing a family. I’m not sure how long it was. But I do remember looking up again one day and being filled with joy and surprise. It was like being visited by an old friend, but I think I was the one who came back to visit, not the sky. It was always there, filled with God’s glory.