Above the Clouds

As we were flying from Denver to Seattle last Saturday, I was looking out the window marveling at the bright sunshine reflecting off brilliantly white clouds. Flying at almost 40,000 feet, I couldn't see the ground, but a blanket of white, beautiful clouds spread out under me. A thought crossed my mind, "Why is it that every time I fly, the clouds are always white and beautiful? I wonder what they look like from the ground?" From my perspective in the sky, above the clouds, the sun is always shining. There is never any rain. Everything is beautiful, bright, calm, and perfect. Nothing blocks my view of the sun or its effects. As we were landing in Seattle a half hour later, however, we descended through the clouds and the bright sunshine was replaced by dull, grey skies and rain. To the people on the ground, the dazzling, sunny clouds were gloomy. It made me think about my view of what's happening in the world. God is always above the clouds. He always sees the final outcome of life, so to Him, the picture is always sunny and peaceful. But, to us alot of the time, life looks unbearably hard and sorrowful. It's not that God doesn't see our pain. He looks through the clouds and sees our miserable position. And that's where the hope comes in. Because of His Son dying for us and His Spirit living in us, we have the ability to see as God sees - above the clouds of life. We can live our lives full of joy knowing that from God's perspective everything is perfectly sunny.