CLOUDS OVER THE HORIZON

Just over the horizon lies a bank of clouds. I can’t see them from here, but I know they are there, for the setting sun has cast a shadow behind them that blazes across the evening sky.

Are they storm clouds? Do they harbor an eminent, torrential rain? Do they represent gloom, and despair in the shadow they cast on those below? Will they bring heart ache, and pain? Will they drench the lives of the unprotected souls they hover above? Will they deposit a deluge that will wash away the hopes, and dreams of the hapless victims in their hellish ferocity? Will they ultimately bring death in the darkness they create by their occlusion of the life giving light of the sun behind? Are they headed my way?

Or are they the clouds of hope? Clouds that provide the promise of refreshing rain to a dry, and parched land? Clouds that gently shade the brow of the hot, and weary traveler? Clouds that bring the life giving nectar so necessary to the greenery that replenishes the air we breath? Are they the clouds that hover over the mountain, unseen in the distance, that promises relief from the depths of the valley we trod?

Will they reach me in my time of need? Can I ever reach them?

I don’t know. All I do know, is the beauty of the tapestry they create by the setting of today’s sun. The contrast they provide between darkness, and light. The apprehension, and yes fear, they insight that humbles my heart. The thrill they excite that quickens my blood, and proves I live. The surety that what they are, and what they do is well beyond my control. The certainty that they were created by a Grand, and Glorious God. That Same God who created me. That Same God Who will provide for my needs, in the measure He deems, the nearer they approach, represent they good, or evil. He who will draw them nigh, should I require them. He who will blow them afar, should they threaten me. He who will ultimately scoop me to His breast, however they should overtake me.

Just over the horizon lies a bank of clouds. Shadow, or shade? God only knows. Therein lies my faith.