New Year’s Day was cloudy and gray–a typical mid-winter landscape to start the new year. But there were moments throughout the day when the clouds parted and we saw a glimpse of the sun–for a second or two. It was as if the cosmos was shifting into the new year.
It was the movement of the heavy clouds in the southwestern sky that caught my attention at three o’clock in the afternoon. As a strip of pink appeared low in the sky an hour later, I realized I was witnessing the making of a sunset. By four-thirty, the majority of the clouds were gone from the sky, except the long, horizontal band of purple that took the lead role in the sunset production.
The dark purple-blue clouds were outlined in pink and moved at a swift pace to the south.
The setting sun colored the sky beneath the roll of purple clouds in shades of orange, pink, and yellow.
Forty minutes later, the clouds were gone. The sun had set. A smooth gradient of blue to red-orange silhouetted the cedars and oaks.
And a star shone bright in the quiet sky.
This making of a sunset is like making a big decision in our lives. At first we are in the clouds and rather confused. Thoughts are moving in our head, grabbing our attention, then moving on. We see a glimpse of a solution, but then we are clouded with doubt. As time passes, the choices become more clear to us. We may still have a blind spot–a fear, a doubt, or a prejudice that gets in the way. The process has a beauty of its own–colorful, ever-changing, illuminating. Then all of a sudden, we know what we are going to do! The cloudy doubts and fears are gone. We can see clearly. We feel a quiet peace as we gaze at the bright star guiding our life.
