Clouds of change

 The clouds have been on my mind  a lot lately. I've been watching them and wanting to get several shots of one place, over time, showing the progression of clouds as they glide across the sky.  Sometimes there is a a high wind, and they march across the horizon at a clipping pace, changing, dissolving and reforming into something entirely different.  Sometimes there is a dead wind, and the change in their form or shape is barely discernible. People are like that, we experience periods of intense or sudden change, and other times of plodding along, day by day, with no apparent difference at all.  But things are not what they seem, because no matter how unchanged we may feel, there is always movement, always change, even at the calmest of times. When the winds of life seem to be nonexistent, things are happening in and all around us.  We may inch along at a snail's pace or even be blown back for awhile, but we never, ever stay in the same place. These were taken on a very still and seemingly windless day:

11:24 am

11:25 am

11:26 am

During the doldrums, it helps me to remember that we very seldom "arrive" all at once.  Change usually comes a little at a time, over time; so slowly that we often don't realize any type of progress at all, until we look back and remember where we were, and then observe where we are.  It helps knowing that God, who understands me perfectly, doesn't expect immediate perfection from me.  He expects and hopes for progression, incremental, as I am able, with Him helping me all along the way.  With this measured and steady progress, I find myself more able to bear the high winds of change when they do come.  When the doldrums end and the strong winds come rushing in, growth can come intense and quick, but it's the calmer periods that prepare me for them- the daily slow (and maybe barely discernable) progression of trying to do the right thing day in, day out, staying the course, steady as she goes- even if it is in inches (or milimeters).  Today, I'm grateful for doldrums past, for staying the course, and for remembering back to see how far I've come.