Life Underneath the "Cotton Ball" Clouds

            This has been a stormy season in the mid-region of the country. In one such storm 178 tornados were verified, one EF1 coming through south of our town and damaging properties.

            When those storms passed, our son went out to bring in the mail and came running back into the house. “You gotta come outside. Hurry!” exclaimed this very special young man who never hurries much about anything except what totally excites him.

            Weather phenomena. That does and always has. The Asperger’s in Min obsesses on it—that and other things.

            So, we kicked back the feet of our recliners and journeyed outside to see what we thought might just be something ordinary. After all, our son’s weather excitement isn’t based on the extreme. The tornados already passed…so maybe a rainbow?

            I couldn’t’ve been more wrong.

            He called from the road pointing over the roof of our house, “Come over here!”

            I reluctantly pulled my oxygen tubing further out the doorway, walked to the road, and turned around. “Wow! That’s incredible!”

            There before us was a fulling carpeted sky with what looked like cotton ball clouds.

            “They’re mammatus clouds,” Min said. “They mean a storm is coming.”

            “But the storms’ve passed,” I said. He must be confused. These fluffy almost imaginary looking clouds? “They look like they could’ve popped out of the pages of a Dr. Seuss book.”

            “Or like there’s a stork with a baby bundle on one of them, like in Dumbo. I’m going to get my closet ready just in case it’s storms and not a baby elephant.” Min headed into the shelter we call home.

            Back inside I plopped in my recliner, grabbed my laptop, and searched mammatus clouds. Well, what do ya know,” I commented to hubby. “The kid’s rightish. I don’t know about those formations meaning more storms-a-comin’, but it does say they’re dangerous and pilots are warned never to fly through them. Who’d’thunk such cute clouds do that!”

I will not fly up-up so high

Into a cotton-bally sky!

(“pilot” trying to sound Dr. Seussy)

 

            “I told you,” a voice down the hall yelled. “They are like cumulonimbus clouds.”

            “Yeah, it says here they ‘indicate especially severe turbulence’ because of those.” Well, I’ve learned my meteorology lesson for the day!

            That set me to thinking. Are there times I thought something was fine when danger lurked within? And, have I always thought ahead before stepping into difficult situations? Do I know how to get out of jeopardy and choose to do so?

            Answer? Sometimes, but not always. I’m gullible.

When a danger I don’t see,

This can bumble-humble me.

(blunderer trying to sound Seussy-ish)

 

            I’m now well into my senior years of life. You’d think I’ve got decisions mastered by now, but this gal’s not only nearsighted but shortsighted at times too. Yes, I’ve come a long way, but perhaps I’ll never fully grasp soon enough that everything appearing okay may not be so.

Though my “sky” looks bright and cheery,

Caref’ly “fly!” It might be dreary!

(writer who’s not as clever as Dr. Seuss)

 

            But there is hope—always! You see, we have a God Who, through His Holy Spirit, “taps us on the shoulder” and warns His children. So, some of my blunders are actually times I may not pay attention to those “taps.”

            Oh, how I need to go to the Father and seek Him daily! Do I blunder every day? No, but—if I ask God’s help before my feet hit the floor in the morning, then it’s guaranteed I’d do better in this department—because I do love the Lord and desire to please Him.

            And He knows this. It’s His desire as well, and He totally loves me…even when I walk into danger when I could’ve avoided it.

            Here’s the thing: When it’s not possible for me to recognize danger before I’m in it (that can happen too), God knows. Thus, I must not only seek His help daily but also trust Him fully all the minutes of my life.

            Maybe, as I grow even older, I’ll become less likely to mistake fluffy, imaginary-looking “clouds” as innocent and question if there’s need to “take cover.”

 

Simply trusting every day, trusting through a stormy way;

Even when my faith is small, trusting Jesus, that is all.

 

(Refrain) Trusting as the moments fly, trusting as the days go by;

Trusting Him whate’er befall, trusting Jesus, that is all.

 

Brightly doth His Spirit shine into this poor heart of mine;

While He leads, I cannot fall; trusting Jesus, that is all. (Refrain)

 

Singing if my way is clear, praying if the path be drear;

If in danger for Him call; trusting Jesus, that is all.” (Refrain)

 

(from Trusting Jesus by Edgar Page, 1876, public domain)

 

#mammatusclouds #storms #Aspergers #pilotflightrisk #Godknows

#trustingJesus #prayer #avoidingdanger #HolySpiritprompting

 

*Photo credit: Carnage Thomsen