AN OVERCAST MORNING

This was an overcast morning. I stood staring in the dark before I could see or know it was and continuing as I opened the blinds to a new morning. On an overcast morning with an overcast mind, I prayed for sunshine and clear skies for the weather and for my mind. Even after I prayed I felt like it was something north of a good idea or maybe it was south. When it is overcast it is hard to tell. But I know of nothing else to do but sit quietly, no matter if my mind is as foggy, soggy and cloudy as my Spirit and the weather.

I have learned to call slight depression or discouragement overcast because it all has the same effects: a dreary, heavy melancholy, cloudy presence. It becomes important though to remember what I read by Anne Barngrover, poet and professor: “Time passes whether I stand still or move.” Prompted by this wisdom and wanting an atmospheric change, I decided that non-movement would increase the clouds. I moved around and looked for light. Wouldn’t you know it… as I looked out the clouds were breaking up and the sun was cracking through the overcast of the morning. It is strange to me how a clearing in the weather can also be a clearing in the mind and Spirit. It just seems to be that way sometimes even though I don’t think I hop from mood to mood very easily.

So when asked: ‘How are you today?’ I can respond: ‘Overcast, but clearing up.’

“You know the saying, ‘Red sky at night means fair weather tomorrow; red sky in the morning means foul weather all day.’ You know how to interpret the weather signs in the sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the signs of the times!” Jesus