Clouds

One of my favorite Joni Mitchell songs is "Both Sides Now." I'm partial to the Judy Collins rendition because I'm partial to Judy Collins in general. Nevertheless, the line "…but clouds got in my way" has always intrigued me. There are times when clouds are high up and unreachable. At other times, like now in the photo taken from our balcony at Mt. Magazine Lodge in Arkansas, I have been enveloped in clouds and can't see what lies before me. Clouds, high and low, both figuratively and actually speaking, often get in my way!

In Scripture, a cloud is symbolic of the glory or presence of God. In the Hebrew scriptures, a cloud descends on the tabernacle/temple to show that God has entered it. Jesus is enveloped by a cloud at the Transfiguration. From the cloud, the voice of God speaks and Jesus shines with the glory of God. In the Revelation to St. John the Divine, we read that he is "coming with the clouds."

What for me may be an obstacle to seeing is also a sign of the glory and presence of God. Is this another paradox? Is it another example of the "otherness" of the Divine? Is it a reminder of the necessary limits of human life? Is it an invitation to wait upon God?

Perhaps being lost in a cloud or having clouded vision is an invitation to keep looking until what God intends for us to see is revealed in an epiphanous moment.