Driving home from running errands the other day, I noticed a darkening immense cloud in front of me. My heart quickened at the prospect of having to drive in a torrential downpour and I uttered a few mild curses under my breath. I had things to do, groceries to unload and children to try to shuttle from the car to shelter.

As I kept my glances on the cloud in front of me, I noticed a thin sliver of light begin to trace the rounded edges that ebbed and flowed into new shapes right in front of me. Transfixed by this tiny thread of brightness, I pulled into a parking lot so that I could point it out to my children. As they clamored from the back seat, freed of their car seats; they pressed their faces against the glass to see what I was pointing at.

“It’s gonna storm, Momma.”

“Mommy, I don’t want it to rain.”

Just like me, their eyes focused first on the black cloud and thought about the rain coming and plans that would be ruined by bad weather. I pointed out the shimmering outline to them and heard little breaths gasp at the beauty that was almost hidden at the edges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“It’s magical.”

“Did an angel do that?”

Caught up in their wonder, I giggled and imagined with them that an angel indeed was painting with sparkly light at the edges of the cloud. We forgot all about the plans that would be ruined, errands that would be made more difficult and the childish fear of storms.

How often in our lives does a storm cloud make an appearance that we are so

focused on the negative that it will bring that we don’t see the thin sliver of light glowing brightly at the edges? A reminder of the bright sun behind it that we long for. The knowledge that the cloud and its rain will pass. We may not know how long it will rain for or even how destructive the force of nature will come into our lives; but we are assured it won’t last forever.

Just like that bright lining on the dark cloud, we can choose to focus on the light. A chat with a friend, a good book, an unexpected compliment, the touch of a lover. We learn to hold onto that glimmer through the turmoil and it will carry us until we are once again bathed in warmth.

Alycia,  formally known as “The Crayon Wrangler”. She wrote at “Coloring Outside The Lines” for many years. She is a talented writer and photographer from Texas who now lives in Tennesse. She blogs at Color Me Happy Check out her Galleries You can follow her on Twitter @alyciestok You can often find her creative writing over at TRDC

all images from google image search