I typically leave my house early to go to work. Most days it is still dark out. The other day when I left, it was still dark, and the sky was covered with white fluffy
clouds. My commute to work is over 45 minutes so during that time, the sun will come out and the sky begins to breathe light into it. On this particular Friday as the sun began to rise, I could see that the the sky was covered in gray clouds in front of me as I drove on the highway. I didn’t think much of it. I continued my drive while listening to my audio book. I briefly looked to my left and what I saw took my breathe away. In the few seconds that my head was turned I saw a gorgeous fall sunrise. It was full of orange, red and pink. It was breathtaking as it painted the sky. I turned back to look at the highway and saw the sky in
front of me was covered with the gray clouds. My immediate thought was, “Oh I wish what is to my left would be in front of me”.
As soon as I had the thought I realized:
How often do we want something other than what is right in front of us?
How often do we want the beautiful sunrise instead of the gray cloud covering?
Then I realized that without the gray cloud covering there would be no sunrise. The perfect way that each cloud covered the sky to provide just the right amount of light to allow for the sun to peak through is what made the sunrise. I began to look at the gray clouds differently and realized that what I was looking at is what made the sunrise as beautiful as it was. But in the few seconds that my head was turned, I wanted more. I wanted to see beyond the gray and see the beauty. But once I realized in that in order to see the beauty in the red, orange and pink I had to see the beauty in the gray.
How often do we have difficult times in our lives and wish they weren’t so hard?
How often do we forget that the good times in our lives are only made better because of the struggles in the hard times that it took us to get there?
As I continued my drive, the red, orange and pink to my left had disappeared and all I could see now was gray, but now I saw the beauty in the gray. The clouds parted in front of me and the light began to come through. There were subtle hints of red, orange and pink, but what really made it beautiful now was the gray. Because it was the gray that was allowing the clouds to radiate the beautiful shades of a fall sunrise.
I could no longer see the beautiful sunrise I had seen in those few seconds when I turned my head to the left, but now what I saw was so much more. What I saw was what created that beautiful sunrise. I realized that there is no beauty without the gray and if you are willing to really see the beauty in all, you will see the beauty is really in the gray and that the sunrise can be fleeting. If it wasn’t for the cloud covering exactly as it was on that morning, the sunrise would not have been as beautiful as it was.
It is so important to remember that wanting only the beauty in the sunrise, without seeing the beauty in the gray limits what brings us joy. Learning to accept the gray as just as magnificent as the sunrise allows us to recognize the power in the difficult times and not only be delighted by the good times. Because it is the difficult times that allow us to appreciate the good times. Just like it is the gray clouds that allow for the beautiful sunrise.