Do you remember the last time you saw a break in the clouds? I would describe it as that moment that when in the midst of a long period of gray skies, a tiny window opens from above and the sun shines through for just a little while. Each time that I have seen a break in the clouds, I always marvel at how much beauty can come through in a moment. It usually happens right before your eyes, just when it is least expected. Be you engrossed in busyness or not, you cannot ignore it. In fact it takes up all your attention.

A break in the clouds makes it look like sunshine is raining from the skies. For once you look and the rays of the sun are golden yellow, just as they painted them in the kids story books. In such moments, I always think that this is how the glory of God would look like…like this is an appropriate staircase for Jesus to walk down to earth from heaven. If someone was to blow a trumpet loudly at that particular moment, I just might take off in panic! Other times, it feels like this was the exact moment that Elijah ascended into heaven on board a chariot of flaming horses. And I can almost hear the clatter of hooves and the neighs as the horses gallop upwards. But then I wonder, why would hooves make any sound if the horses are in the air?

The thing about the break in the clouds is that it is fleeting…just for a moment, and then it is gone. It leaves us with a sigh of wonder and eyes that have seen something majestic. And even when the clouds close once again and we are back to the gray, we cannot feel the gloom, for we have been seduced by something heavenly. One cannot help but look forward to the day when the clouds clear and the sun comes shining through – not through a window, but from all of God’s great sky.

Let the sun shine!