Blue Sky Cloudy Days

       At some point as a youth, I remember dividing cloudy days into different categories just as I had heard some cultures do with snow.  There are the dark, heavy clouds very black of rain and thunderstorms and the pea-green clouds that signal the danger of hail and a coming tornado.  Though these clouds may be the darkest, they are often the quickest to break into sunshine when the storm has passed and leave a rainbow arched across the sky.
       Some cloudy days are just overwhelmingly gray and dreary in their pervasiveness; especially when they hang on for days.  Those are the kind of clouds that can sink into our mood because they are so dark and often cool and damp.  And then there is what I call blue-sky cloudy days.  Perhaps the clouds are just so light that you can most feel the sun shining through or sometimes you can actually see blue sky peeking through the clouds here and there in the breeze.
       Flying in an airplane is a dramatic way to experience the differences in clouds.  I was away at a meeting once where it had been dark and rainy the whole visit.  Before I had left, everyone was very envious that I was leaving Midwest winter behind and going somewhere warm and sunny; only it wasn't.  When I left and the plane finally took off, the first part of the ride was bumpy as we went through the turbulence in the wind and rain.  As we passed through the clouds, it looked foggy and dark until we suddenly broke through into the sunlight.  The clouds were below us and we were surrounded by calm blue skies and bright sunshine.
        Hope is often symbolized as the blue skies after a dark storm.  It is an ancient image, at least as old as the oral tradition of the story of Noah from the first part of Genesis.  After the flood, God sets the rainbow across the sky as a sign of God's promise. (Genesis 9:13)  When the problems and events of our life are hard and the way seems dark, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could simply lift ourselves up out of despair into the sunlight?
       It too often seems as if life is intent on making sure that we know our limitations and learn how hard things can be.  Our days can be clouded with grief, pain, and the uncertainties of the world around us.  Sometimes it feels impossible to see the blue sky in our circumstances.  And there are times when depression sets in and we need help to move forward.
       But our hope is sure.  Someone asked this last week if our best days (in the context of the church) are ahead of us or behind us.  My immediate response was that as people of faith in the resurrection, the best always ahead of us.  As it says in Revelation 21:4, God will wipe away every tear, death, mourning, crying, and pain will be no more.  The gift of faith does not promise us a life without storms or darkness.  What God does is promise that we are never alone and that we have hope even in the face of great pain and even death.  Because Jesus lives, we always have the promise of sunshine ahead of us.  Read John 12:44-47