Transitions and Clouds

Today, the sky is a brilliant blue backdrop for huge, billowy, silken clouds. For most of you this would not be worth commenting on at all, or maybe even noticing. However, for most of the past 12 years we did not have such sights of wonder. We lived in the plains of Montana ("rain" measured in hundredths of an inch) or in Southern California (clouds came in varieties of a gray blanket). However, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and clouds were just like the ones I am experiencing today: Rich in shapes and drifting across the skies, inviting wonder and gazing at their majesty. The wonder of this vision causes me to consider IF it was my upbringing that makes me delight in these puffs of moisture or IF because our family lived in areas without them for so long or maybe it is a combination? For it is very likely that IF I had never seen these clouds, I would have never missed them. And if I always saw them I would take them for granted. Transitions do heighten my awareness and gratitude of certain things. When our grandson died, I noticed other little boys much more and delighted in their presence. Having children leave for college, to make their own homes, or to join the military, brings a certain sweetness to the memories and the phone calls and the times we enjoy together. Through God bringing these transitions into our lives we are more aware of other needs, our gratitude is strengthened and we long for our eternal home--where we will really feel at home and will see the familiar and new things that are beyond our imagination.