Are You Looking Up?

Have you looked up lately? I mean have you really taken time and looked up at the sky? I have always been a “cloud watcher”. When I was young, sitting on a tractor while monotonously plowing row after row after row of tobacco, corn, or soybeans, you had nothing to look at except the sky and the end of the row. No two views were ever the same. Some days were nothing except a blue crystal-clear sky. Some days were filled with light, wispy clouds; some were cotton balls. Sometimes you could only see the contrails left by a passing plane, but sometimes you would see those clouds stacking up, getting higher and higher and darker and darker. Two things would be on my mind. Is there going be a shower to cool me off or will a thunderstorm build and I get to knock off early? Either way, there was a blessed relief. I was always cloud watching.

Now my husband is one of those drivers who travels down the road without ever seeing what is around him. He doesn’t see the neighbor waving as we pass by or his wife broke down on the side of the road! (That’s a story for another day.) What I’m saying is, he is really focused on his driving. He is an excellent driver, but don’t ask him if he saw such and such; however, when he calls you in the middle of the day and asks, “Have you seen the sky?” you stop what you are doing and run outside. Tommy knows I love the clouds and taking pictures of them, but this was an exceptional day. Several people I know have been posting photos of clouds, storms, lighting strikes, sunsets and sunrises, and the coup de gräs of sky watching; rainbows.

What is God telling us? He is the Master Artist that creates these spectacular scenes. His word tells us many, many times, to “look up”, “look and see”, to “lift our eyes heavenward”. We must continually look up so that we see His triumphant return.

Luke 21:27-28 “And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place; look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is draweth nigh.”. (KJV)

John 4:35 in part says, “Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” Are you looking up? Do you see God’s glory around you?