Above The Clouds

This one is for my baby girl today and for her momma who needs to remind herself once in awhile that God Knows Why.

Above the Clouds

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

1 Corinthians 13:12  (NLT)

                When we woke up that morning in Wyoming there was heavy fog and it was cold for June.  I wanted to stay in bed where it was warm and cozy. But we had an agenda and today it said we had to get up and go. “Going” meant I had to get on the back of that motorcycle for the sixth day in a row and ride up the mountain (where it would be even colder) in the fog.

            The only thing that helped me crawl out of that bed and into my rain suit was the fact that my husband knew how to drive that motorcycle well and I knew at the end of that day, I would be in Idaho holding my newborn grandson in my arms for the first time.

            I felt some anxiety as we started up that mountain. The turns were sharp and the fog was dense. I wondered how far we would have to drive like that.

            It wasn’t far because as we drove we ascended out of dense fog into thick clouds. My anxiety increased and I felt chilled to the bone. I wanted to stop and go back but we had to go on if I was going to hold that baby in my arms that day.

            I prayed. “God, please make the clouds and the fog go away, I am afraid.” 
           
           But God had a better plan.  He didn’t answer that prayer like I wanted Him to; instead what happened next was a revelation in how God always knows why we go through times of fear and anxiety and what is on the other side of them.

            The clouds did't go away as I prayed, but after a few minutes (that seemed like hours), we rose above them and drove into bright warm sunlight.  The beauty of God’s creation and His way  of answering my prayer brought tears of joy to my heart.         

            Beneath us lay was that heavy gray blanket of clouds, above us was a clear blue sky and bright sunlight shining on the mountain peaks around us.  

            And then as I sat in wonder, up from the clouds came a beautiful multicolored hot air balloon. I was confused. That balloon obviously came from the same foggy cold valley we had started from. The difference, I am sure, was that the people in the hot air balloon were experienced balloonists and familiar with their surroundings.  Unlike us, they started out in the fogs and clouds because from past experience they knew they would rise above them.

            Life is sometimes like that journey up the mountain; frightening, lonely, and seemingly unending. When we feel like we simply cannot go on, we turn to God and beg him to make our problems go away.  But God knows better, He knows if we can get through them, we will be more appreciative of the beauty of His love that lies ahead.

           
            Perhaps after we have had enough experiences of going through difficult times, we will be

like the experienced balloonists; we will go through them peacefully, because we know with God’s

help, we will rise above them to see the beauty on the other side of the clouds.