Shadows across the ground betray the brightness of the day. Treetops bowing swiftly back and forth pay homage to the sun they've missed for days. Complexity fills the sky, as clouds form innumerable shapes, with the thick gray dominating at center, yet hundreds of tiny white puffs lit from behind capture the attention as the headliner.  The day reveals that the darker sides of life are always present, but live only  in contrast to tell the story of Hope.

What hope does thi day hold for you? What possibility is your challenge pointing to?

Bright sunlight shines across the earth below, blocked only by the shapes of the man made houses and structures. The white rim along the horizon softens the rich blues of the sky above. The trees, bare of their leafy clothing, appear especially alive and alert with branches jetting out and reaching toward the sun against the blue background. It reminds that sometimes we are most alive when we are warmed and nurtured by others, despite how we may appear or how sparse our means. Life is in the interaction and not the state of being.

Who makes you feel more alive just being near them? What else brings life in to your day?

Trees appear as sticks standing erect in the deep snow, bare branches raised to the bright blue above.  Stripped of their former fullness, they stand firm and proud.  It reminds that who we are, is who we are. We can be nothing more and nothing less. Whatever state we are in, we need to stand and be that, and the seasons will change around us.

What part of you do you need to accept and stand in?

A bright jet stream crosses the blue sky muddled with white clouds. Brushed, almost whimsically, over the bright white line are puffs of dark gray smoke, that although translucent, mar the view.  They appear in the way, a hindrance to an otherwise beautiful work of art. Yet they, too, are part of the sky. It reminds that life does not bring perfection into focus.  That awaits. For now, the flaws add the depth and contrast that paint their own beauty, while drawing us to desire that which is beyond them.

What opportunity to grow does this day present for you? What flaw has painted beauty into your life?