DAY BLIND STARS

Overcast Skies, Jamestown NC

I’ve boarded both commercial and business jets on some of the most dismal, overcast days of my life.  These are the kind of days in late fall when there is a cold nuisance mist in the air which just adds to the depressing atmosphere.  These are not the kind of days that you wake up for a trip with unrivaled enthusiasm.  The plane begins its slow crawl away from the tarmac and makes its way in line for takeoff.  The engines strain against the grounded brakes and are suddenly set free to race down the runway and lift off into the mucky weather.  Droplets of moisture form lines across the windows as forlorn passengers blankly stare out into the nothingness.

And then it happens!  We burst out of the dense cloud ceiling into a pure white floor of mounding clouds highlighted by the bright sunshine.  That’s when it occurs to you that the sun was shining all the while you were complaining about the dark weather outside.  It was only the temporary cloud cover that had obscured your outlook on the day.  The sun was doing its thing in spite of the brief interlude of a weather front that was slowly dissipating. 

But have you ever considered that even on a beautiful sunny day in June the stars above are also waiting with their light?  It’s actually the intense sun that is obscuring their beauty and rendering us to being day blind to their presence.  Then the sun begins to pale on the western horizon as it slowly slips out of sight, taking its intense light with it.  Soon we are unconsciously aware that the light saber has been passed on to the myriad stars in the evening sky as the moon begins to rise and subtly reflect the sunbeams cast from the other side of our planet.  This becomes even more poignant when flying overhead at this transitional time of the day with a view of the skyline as major city lights begin to appear in the darkness below.  You’re left to wonder what all those millions of souls are doing right now and reflect on the unique smallness of your own being. 

  

Once I began to experience this revelation, dim overcast days and sunny days that I thought would never end came into better focus.  The Light in this world is always with us even though there are times that make it seem we have been abandoned.  We simply need the understanding that there will be times when life is obstructed by the dark things of this world and we need the faith to believe that the Light will never leave us and brighter days will come regardless of the situation.