Sometime ago I came upon this beautiful metaphor.
“Just as a white summer cloud, in harmony with heaven and earth freely floats in the blue sky from horizon to horizon, following the breath of the atmosphere – in the same way the pilgrim abandons himself to the greater life that wells up from the depths of his being and the universality of a greater life.”
I’ve pondered those lines over many years, especially living where I do, because here in the South West tip of Cornwall we have the most spectacular cloud formations.
Clouds play a very significant roll in the Bible. We have only to think of the wilderness wanderings – the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night leading the children of Israel. Then there is Moses who whenever he enters the tent of meeting, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent and the Lord would speak with Moses. There is the passage in Exodus 19 where the Lord said to Moses,”Behold I shall come to you in a thick Cloud, in order that that the people may hear when I speak with you.”
We are told in the same chapter “So it came about on the third day, when it was morning that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound…Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire.
The cloud theme is continued in the New Testament. The transfiguration is one such example.
“Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘this s my Beloved Son, listen to Him'” Mark 9:7.
Acts 1: 9 tells us of the last appearance of Jesus after his resurrection.
“And after he had said these things, He was lifted up whilst they were looking on, and a cloud received him out of sight.
In both the Old and New Testaments the Cloud is a significant symbol of the Lord’s presence, of God. We can also apply the symbol of the cloud as representing the Holy Spirit in our own lives.
As Christians the cloud may be viewed as the creative power of the mind under the power of the Holy Spirit.
“Just as a white summer cloud, in harmony with heaven and earth freely floats in the blue sky from horizon to horizon, following the breath of the atmosphere – in the same way the pilgrim abandons himself to the greater life that wells up from the depths of his being and the universality of a greater life.” And that Greater Life is the Life of Christ.
All Along the Watchtower 
How God can use our own preoccupations to draw us cliser to Him
In 2004 I was in Medjugorje on the morning of the Sunday after Ascension Thursday. Many countries celebrate the Ascension on that day. I had planned on climbing Cross Mountain one last time as we were leaving the village later that day. It was a beautiful morning.
I went as far as the Risen Christ statue to check it’s knee (sometimes it weeps) and say a prayer first. I thought to myself, glancing over as I did so, that I should perhaps climb Apparition Hill instead. I was rooted to the ground when I saw beside the hill a pure white cloud which stretched from the ground up to the heavens. Perhaps it is the bottom of Our Lady’s gown I thought. Ithe had draping like impressed pleats. I felt unworthy then to attempt going anywhere near the mountain and just as this though the crossed my mind, in the blue sky beside the pillar small fluffy wisps of white cloud started to appear and formed themselves into balls about the size of a man’s hand.
They lined up one beside the other then joined to form a capital letter A. It was as plain as if it had been printed or painted there. “Oh”, I thought, “Maybe I’m going to have my name written in the heavens (as some others say they have)!” More puffy clouds appeared and commenced shaping themselves into the next letter. To my disappointment, they didn’t form a lower case n nor a capital N but what looked like a lower case n capitalised. I’m particular about such things but nevertheless was impatient about knowing if the Lord or angel or whoever was in charge of the work would put an e at the end of Ann or not. Nothing. No more. Zilch. The two letters hung in the sky alongside the pillar of cloud.
Something similar had happened me on the evening of Ascension Thursday. I was standing outside the church looking towards the west when a small cloud about the size of a man’s fist and the colour of purple mixed with cerise appeared and started to grow into the shape of a huge dove and move towards me. “No, no” I said in my head, “This is not Pentecost, those are the clouds of evening!” Immediately the cloud stopped coming towards the church, changed shape and spread itself out into a “cloud of evening” yet retaining it’s vivid colour. I spoke to a couple beside me saying “Did you see that cloud shaped like a dove?” ” You should have been here a moment ago” said one of them. ” That tree over there seemed to be on fire” I blamed my negative thinking on the cloud changing and also on the Lord or whoever stopping at the first two letters of my name because of my criticism of the size if his fonts.
It was much later that I discovered that the pillar of cloud is called a Skekinah, a sign that God is in this place; the congregation inside the church were praying and singing “Come Holy Spirit” as they do every evening and the letters I saw appear in the sky in the whitest of white clouds are the symbols denoting the eternal God, the Alpha and the Omega. I ponder on them every day.
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Indeed the Jewish understanding of the Shekinah is fascinating to contemplate and seems, in our Old Liturgy, to be represented in much; the incense, the ringing of the bells etc. It is the “glory” and the “logos” of God as intermediary between God and man.
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13537-shekinah
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I see Him everywhere…
https://goo.gl/images/Rit8m1
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Wonderful Annie. Nature witnesses to the Glory of God is our eyes are open
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The Lord knows, I am a self centered person. I was born on an Ascension Thursday so didn’t want that day in 2004 to end …
Pentecost has happened. Yet God is the same. Yesterday, tomorrow and today are the same to Him. He is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the End and the Beginning. The Eternal One.
And He has consideration for us… the bruised reed he does not break.
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The Lord spoke to fishermen through fish… He meets us where we are and reveals things beyond our understanding…
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Often we go about like blind men. You may enjoy rhis.
http://m.independent.ie/irish-news/1916/rising-poems-i-see-his-blood-upon-the-rose-by-joseph-plunkett-34143648.html
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