Clouds

“I’ve looked at life from both sides now, from up and down and still somehow, it’s cloud illusions I recall, I really don’t know clouds at all.”¹

Who gets to say there are only 2 sides?  The conversation starts with looking out the window at 35,000 feet; looking down on the ever changing beauty of the clouds.  Looking out, now, at a sea of flat rippled white, when a few moments ago, the clouds were a vast collection of solo outbursts of joy.  Yet, there is always a horizon where blue sky meets the landscape below.  There is always the horizon never obtainable, yet always the guide.  Was that in the mind of Ole St. Nick when he cried out, “On Dasher…!” Was he not setting out for a new horizon, a new infinity, a new discovery, a new challenge, a new victory or the next new thing?

But alas, the horizon moves on though we chase it. We may watch the sunset, yet we gaze at the horizon in wonder and awe.  Even if we sit and watch, there is a calling, “Come, come, come…!”  It is destiny ever calling, “Come, COME ON! Come on you can make it!  You can make it!” It is the cloud; the cloud of witness not only having lead the way before, but clearing the way for the current warriors, runners, teachers and leaders now. “We made it! You can make it! Come on we want you with us!”

Some clouds provide rain, yet others provide needed shade and still others seem to hold back a large crowd on the edge of the dance floor so that bursts of joy can celebrate on an open canvas above the plains, or above cobalt lakes that reflect pure light.  Each cloud has purpose; not jealous of another, all adding their whispers to the ever building roar, “Come, Come on!”

As I look down far below me, no house, no car, no person can be identified. Yet, when I am there (below) things seem to shout, “See me, notice me and acknowledge me.  Give me significance!” Is that the wrong side? Or is it the side we need to see clearly and own, so it can truly be laid down to reach the next horizon, the next new version of self?  Then that version can be made full so it too, can be laid down for the ever newer, greater, fuller version of a new you and me?

And what if I can join the whispering voices and cheer someone else on as well to see the sky?  Can I lift another’s chin up so their eyes will meet the sky instead of the floor? Maybe that is how life was meant to be lived.

(as always comments are greatly appreciated)

1.       Both Sides by Joni Mitchell,   http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jonimitchell/bothsidesnow.html