Sheltering Shadows

While I was on retreat a couple weeks ago, I daily enjoyed walking. My final walk for the day would be back over the hill to stop at my log and look over the hills and sunset. Not surprisingly, that was often the first walk of the day as well.

But one of the other walks would be down the main road toward the center of the little village where I grew up. The center is a nursing home. It used to be my school. It still looks like my school from, oh let's say 30 years ago and leave it at that, but now it has old ladies rocking on the covered porch.

During one of these walks, I enjoyed the clouds that were piling up in the sky. They seemed especially low and puffy, and I just had to take a few pictures.

But when I stood back to look beyond the clouds and noticed the entire surroundings, I realized that the countryside was darkened because of the clouds.

I thought about what a tiny bug must be thinking buried deep in the grass shaded by those clouds. A terrible storm is brewing. This might be the end of me. Too much rain and I will surely drown.I didn't think anything about a storm myself, because I could see beyond the shadows.
 And then I started to wonder. How often do I worry about an approaching storm in my life when there is really only sunshine and warmth headed my way?

Does God look over the countryside of my life and say what a beautiful day, what perfect clouds, when I say, Why have you forsaken me, Lord!?
If only I could step out of the shadows and see the big picture.

Shadows are two-fold personalities. A shadow can be menacing and cold. You wish you could escape into the sun. The other shadow offers shelter from the burning heat, a place of refreshment and relief.

 "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust." Psalm 91:1-2