If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things in nature have a message you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive. ~ Eleanora Duse
“Not a cloud in the sky.” You’ve heard people say that, I’m sure. Yesterday was that kind of day here in Kentucky. The weatherman on the 6 o’clock news suggested sending your kids out to look for a cloud in the sky if you wanted to keep them busy. They wouldn’t have found one. Nothing but blue skies ahead. That means no storms on the horizon.
But sometimes we don’t see those storms coming. That’s how it was eleven years ago on 9/11. The terrorists were in the skies using airplanes as weapons and thousands of people died. Many on the airplanes. Many more in the Twin Towers. And a brave number of firemen and police officers who rushed into danger to try to save people. It’s not something anyone old enough to witness the scenes on television will ever forget. The live picture of that second plane flying into the building will forever be seared on our memories and then the awful sight of those buildings collapsing. I saw a space type movie once where a whole world in space exploded in one of the scenes. That scene bothered me even though I knew it was make believe. My imagination was making it real. But the scenes that day eleven years ago were not make believe. They were tragically real.
We were at the Quartet Convention that day too. Not when it happened, but later in the day and then the rest of the week. The Convention is held at the fairgrounds in Louisville which is right next door to the airport. That airport has a UPS hub and planes go in and out every few minutes. But for the rest of that week in 2001, no planes flew. The sky was empty. And we prayed. For our country. For those families who had lost loved ones. For each other as we waited for what might happen next.
There are things like that we can never forget if we’ve witnessed them happening. Pearl Harbor was one of those days. I wasn’t born then, but I can imagine how people felt as they heard the radio reports of the attack and faced the sure knowledge that our country would now be joining the Allies in the war overseas. Husbands, sons and fathers would be taking up arms to defend our country. Many would leave and never return home. Others would return home, scarred by the horrors of war. Life would never again be the same.
Here in Kentucky this week, the blue skies are peaceful and spirit renewing even though hard things are happening in other parts of the world. Wherever you are, may your blue skies ahead be something that brings sunshine to your life.
“By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet.” ~Thomas Merton
Fire and music under our feet. Love the sound of that. Thanks for reading.