On Sky

We’ve been in the monsoon season here in Arizona the past month or so. Before moving here almost 25 years ago, I thought monsoon meant rainy season. Not here. In Arizona, monsoon means slightly lower temperatures with higher humidity. If we’re lucky, we get some rain, but more often we experience evening wind and dust storms, and some pretty incredible electrical displays. Personally, I don’t care for the humidity, but I do like the awesome, towering cloud formations.

One evening a few weeks back, we were praying our family Peace Rosary; I had a view of the sun going down in the western sky, and it was truly magnificent. Great shafts of light poured through breaks in the clouds painted with blue and red, gold, purple and pink. Then I noticed, silhouetted in front of the light streaming down, a cloud in the perfect shape of an angel; it reminded me of a little angel that goes on top of a Christmas tree! By the time we’d finished our Rosary, the little angel cloud was gone. I grabbed my camera and went out front, but the sun had set.

Another evening recently, riding the bus to the parking lot after work, I beheld another beautiful sunset. I noticed no one else on the bus seemed to appreciate it. A few people were busy talking on their cell phones, and the rest were chatting among themselves. No one else seemed to be aware of this incredible display right in front of them. Doesn’t anyone look to the sky in wonder anymore?

The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky proclaims its builder's craft. One day to the next conveys that message; one night to the next imparts that knowledge. There is no word or sound; no voice is heard;
--Psalm 19: 2-4

I am reminded of another sunset I saw last year. I was leaving work that day, and I felt the Lord speaking to me in my heart. What was He saying?

"Look at My beautiful Creation. I made this for your pleasure, but this is nothing compared to the beauty that awaits you in eternity with Me. Look at the beauty of My Creation. I want your heart to look like this. Worry will not make your heart look like this. Concern for material things will not make your heart look like this. Only love for all My children, your brothers and sisters, will make your heart as beautiful as this. When you are filled with My Love, when you give of yourself freely to your fellow human beings, then your heart will begin to be as beautiful as this sunset I have created for you. Ask Me for My Peace; ask Me to fill you with My Love; then others will see My Light pouring forth from your heart.”