june gloom

I wrote this last June...

I stumbled out of bed today and pulled back the curtains. I literally did a double take.

There were the most beautiful puffy white clouds with hints of pink and yellow reflections from the morning sun. And this tiny little pocket of pure blue sky.

I wasn't expecting much this early. Mornings in Santa Monica have been pretty overcast lately. They call it "June Gloom."

Anyway, I got to thinking about clouds and blue skies and how if you think about it, no matter how cloudy it is, there's always blue sky... you just might not be able to see it. 

Often when I think of clouds, I think of gloom, and of the more difficult times in my life. I've been through days when it's seemed as if I was living underneath an overcast sky. Faced days so dark they may as well have been night. 

There are times when it's difficult to believe there's any blue sky behind the clouds. When the clouds seemed so thick they might never part.

Yet they always do. 

Even when we don't expect it. Even when we doubt. The clouds always part eventually. Our faith - or lack thereof - has nothing to do with whether or not they will. It reminds me of this verse:

"Will their unfaithfulness nullify God's faithfulness?" - Romans 3:3

When facing a gloomy season of life, it's not easy to expect things will get better, that they will get brighter. It's not easy to remind yourself that sometimes it's the gloomiest seasons of life that make us the strongest, that stretch us, and that ultimately grow us so much closer to the Lord.

I've been there. I've doubted it all, doubted God's presence, doubted His goodness. Yet despite all my doubting, the Lord has been faithful. 

He is there. And He is good.

"When it's dark and it's cold and I can't feel my soul, You are so good. When the world is gone gray and the rain's here to stay, you are still good." - Nichole Nordeman, You Are Good 

He's carried me through hard times, through gloomy days. Never once has He left me in the dark.

"Never once have we ever walked alone." - Matt Redman, Never Once

And never once have the clouds failed to part.

It's easy to get down when life gets gloomy. And it's easy to get down when the sky gets gloomy. I don't know about you, but I'm very affected by the weather. But whether it's actual clouds in the sky or the figurative clouds of life, next time we find ourselves under an overcast sky, maybe we can remember... behind those clouds there is blue sky. 

Soon the clouds will part. And you will stand under blue skies once again.