Thursday, August 29, 2013

Get Your Head IN the Clouds!

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"Get your head out of the clouds!" 

I heard that more than once growing up... from a teacher, a parent, a boss. It was usually an effort to jolt me out of my daydreams of being a writer, speaker or award-winning something-or-other---and into the reality of  classwork, homework, or just plain work. 

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I am certain that every adult who ever told me to get my head out of the clouds did so with the best of intentions. They wanted me to focus on the matter at hand that could help me learn, grow and mature. But the more "mature" I become, the more important I realize it is to get your head IN the clouds.

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We've had beautiful clouds along the Florida Gulf Coast this summer. They are fluffy clouds. God's cotton candy, strewn across a baby-blue blanket of sky. They are cumulus clouds. (I learned that in the Meteorology class I took when I returned to college at the age of 52. Getting my head in the clouds was a good idea after all, it seems.)

Sometimes, I look up and see a bear, a heart, or a puppy dog in the shape of the clouds.

Sometimes the clouds blend into the scenery of a boring drive on Interstate 10. 

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©Drexel Gilbert Enterprises, Inc.
Sometimes, the clouds pierce my soul. They part, allowing a bowl of sunshine to spill out and wash over my spirit. That's happened to me twice recently... exactly when I needed it as I stood on a stretch of beautiful beach.

Why do I like to get my head in the clouds?

It allows me to stop confining my thoughts to the box around my brain. I can reach out and explore new opportunities, new ways of doing an old thing, new ways to stretch and grow my faith. 

I'm betting our inventors of the past spent a lot of time with their head in the clouds... imagining new and better ways of life. I imagine a lot of artists, writers and musicians spend a lot of time with their heads in the clouds and we reap the benefits of the jolt those clouds give to their creativity. I imagine the greatest theologians of the past and present spent/spend a lot of time with their head in the clouds, meeting God in one of the most unique elements of His creation.   

I hear it's supposed to be a pretty day tomorrow. There will probably be some fluffy clouds in the sky. Forget what you were told as a kid about getting your head out of the clouds. 

Take a chance. Grab a friend.. old or new...step outside...look up... and get your head in the clouds. 

You have no idea what might happen. 
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