"On Cloud Covers, Vision, and Faith"

There is an image in my mind’s eye.  It is one I can easily relate to, as it is a scene quite common in the Pacific Northwest where I live.  The weather people call it a “cloud cover.”  During certain times of the year it becomes quite thick, taking the form of fog, and visibility is not only limited but non-existent. 

In my mind I look up and can see nothing, only clouds.   I know if I could see through the clouds that endless scope would not be blocked from my vision.  But I am bound to this physical sphere called Earth and this physical body, and I cannot see beyond the clouds. 

A woman I know experienced the passing of her mother very recently.  She had been ill for quite some time, but her death is, nonetheless, a source of pain and grief for the family.  This past Thanksgiving was the first holiday they spent without their mother and grandmother and now, with Christmas upon us, they are dealing with another imminent first.  Loss, a very real, heart-rending loss.

Yesterday a man spoke with me about the death of one of his best friends two weeks ago.  He expressed that he will grieve his passing for the rest of his life.  While his friend had been sick as well with a terminal illness, and his death was no shock, he too is facing this holiday with that sense of loss--deep, personal loss. 

Why?  Why is there such pain, such hurt, such grief in our lives?  Sometimes it seems as though it never ends, that the same song plays over and over again, and the circumstances and the scenery are the only things that change.  For some it becomes a debilitating factor in living life; for others the pain and the hurt doesn’t end but becomes overpowering and consuming.  Often the holiday season, Thanksgiving and Christmas, only intensifies and amplifies it.    

Many years ago I had a dream that I was declared legally blind.  I understood when I awakened that I had been given a picture of my spiritual state.  It wasn’t a judgment, but a reality.  My spiritual vision is that limited.  

I have no answer as to the “Why?” of things, particularly in other’s lives.  My spiritual sight and vision is as limited as my physical vision is when I’m curtailed by a physical cloud cover.  Any insight I might have is given when I am allowed to see from above, as it were, to see as He sees.

faith:  a feeling, conviction, or belief that something is true or real, not contingent upon reason or justification

A simple definition is that faith is believing without seeing.

Some feel that only those who exercise a belief in God live their life in faith, but we all live a faith-based life.  Each of us believes in something; we differ only in the object of that faith, that belief.  Some have chosen to place their faith in a person, an entity, one with personality and intrinsic love; others place their faith in theories, hypotheses, suppositions, or ideologies.  While polar opposites, the strength of belief and conviction is equal. 

I had a favorite aunt whose only child was born with Down's Syndrome.  She and my uncle lived their lives in total dedication to the love and care of my cousin.  I never remember hearing a complaint over their lot in life.  What I do remember is how much Bonita was loved. 

One single comment from my aunt is a part of me.  There must have been a discussion taking place regarding faith and understanding.  Very, very quietly she spoke. "Sometimes you don't understand.  You just have to have faith."  And she said no more.  She walked the walk. 

As with my aunt, I am of the belief that there is a point and a purpose in all things, even those which are difficult and heart-breaking.  It is a matter of living my life entrusted in the One who created and designed me and living that life at times without answers or understanding.    

Revel in the glimpses, the insights, the truths you are given--each and every one of them, for they are gifts given to you, for you.  Each is a building block and of great importance; they are your personal treasures and can never be taken from you. 

What a gift--to see beyond the cloud cover with true vision and sight.  It is priceless, that which money cannot buy.


"Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.  All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me completely.

"We walk by faith, not by sight."