Thursday, October 15, 2015

Cloud Watching

Castles in the Sky

Clouds do not really look like camels or sailing ships or castles in the sky. They are simply a natural process at work. So too, perhaps, are our lives.”
Roger Ebert

Remember that prose poem so popular in the 1970's—“Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann? One verse states, “ You are a child of the universe, no less that the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.” Sometimes I forget that. I wonder whether you do, too.

At times it feels as if the universe is doing anything but “unfolding as it should.” Sometimes we get so used to juggling all the balls, we forget that anything exists besides balls in the air. Sometimes, we hear about so much chaos going on in the world that we forget there are good things, even great things, going on too. When we spend all our time stomping out fires, trying not to be burned, we miss the clouds that hold the rain.

Lying on your back imagining castles and camels in the clouds is anything but idleness. It is blessed rest; it is mental freedom, it is allowing the universe to unfold in its own way. If we can take a step back, and observe our lives from the same perspective, removed from the emotional tableau we are constantly snared by, we will see that it moves and changes much like the clouds overhead. It shapes and dissolves, and reshapes. At times the blue sky highlights it's fairness, and sometimes darkness overcomes it, storms form, and pour, and pass.

What if today, we were to take the long view, and see the events of our life as a natural process instead of a mistake, a tragedy, or a God-given gift we deserve. What if our life is just this corner of the universe—unfolding exactly as it should.

                                                                 In the Spirit,

                                                                      Jane

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