The Blessing of Clouds

Lately we have been blessed with the most glorious, stunningly beautiful sunrises.  The colors are so vivid that most times the photographs we take hardly do them any justice at all.  The colors vary from day to day, but are so awesome that I have to stop and look.  Today’s sunrise started with a vivid orange at the horizon that faded into a soft pink that merged into a violet that engulfed the rest of the sky. 

As beautiful as all these morning skies are, they have one thing in common – clouds.  The sun, as it peaks over the horizon, is reflected in the sky’s winter clouds.  The sunrise isn’t quite as beautiful in a clear sky.

It seems to me this is a picture of our lives and God’s love for us.  We are much more stunning when God’s love and the light of His Son are allowed to reflect off the clouds of sorrow and disappointment in our lives.   What we do with the pain and suffering are opportunities to glow and to grow.

During yesterday’s homily, our Deacon read a quote from Blessed John Henry Newman.  It spoke to me loudly about the “clouds”.

“God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work.

I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments.

Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about.”

Lord, let us be a sunrise to all who look our way.