Searching for Clouds

I can't believe how much time I inadvertently spend searching for clouds these days.  I'm not looking for fanciful images like lions, elephants, fish, or flowers in the fluffy shapes that float silently overhead; I'm looking for hope.  Hope that it might rain, hope that the difficulty of Niger's hot season will end soon, hope that beautiful wet, refreshing, life-giving water will fall from the sky, cooling the earth and the air, nourishing crops into plentiful harvests, and replenishing water supplies throughout our area. 

Each day, I find myself looking to the sky, opening the back door that looks out from our kitchen into our back yard.  I search the horizon, lifting my eyes above the wall that encloses our compound.  Occasionally, my search is rewarded with a glimpse of something in the distance.  My heart jumps.  A cloud!  Is it white? dark? dusky red? flat? full?  If it's red, it usually forecasts the arrival of a dust storm, and dust storms often usher in a little rain, but not enough to quench the deep thirst in the earth around me.  Not enough to quench the thirst for rain in my soul. 

A mid-afternoon dust storm...

 

If the cloud is light, it holds no rain, but will blow over our heads, merrily whisking along, as if it's happy to be on its way.  I look for the clouds that are dark and foreboding - these are my friends.  I am looking for those escorted by glorious displays of lightning and the deep-throated boom of thunder.  They are the ones that seem illusive these days. 

I tell myself once again, as I see the bright blue sky and fiery sunlight that blinds my eyes with searing rays, "Be patient, my soul.  Put your hope in the Lord.  The rain will come.  The waters will run once again.  We will see green in the land.  Be still, my soul, and wait for Him to whom the lightning and the thunder surrender their powerful will.  Learn to be content, my soul, whether the sun shines in fierce Sahara-fury or the rains fall bringing comfort to parched and weary lands and people.  In whatever state you are, my soul, be content, and know that He is God.  His name will surly be exalted in this place.  Wait, I say, on the Lord.  Wait patiently.  Wait in hope."

Wisps of Hope