I love the sky. No matter where I am, I’m always looking up. The skies in the west are wide open spaces…ever changing majestic views in every direction. Just as the Ohio River changes with each passing moment, so too does the western sky. I love the way the light changes, the clouds forming and reforming into every shape imaginable. Sunrise, sunset, gathering storms…all are a canvas for the miracle God creates for us every day.

It’s been many years since I laid on a blanket and gazed up at the clouds and named the creatures I found there. Years since I laid under a tree and glimpsed the cerulean blue peeking through the pine boughs. I will make it a point to do that before I head back to WV. I’ll look up on the internet how to photograph the Milky Way. I’ll hold my grand daughters hands as we count the stars. I’ll make sweet memories they’ll not soon forget, even though they may want to for awhile. ‘Tweens, you know…at least the older one is.

When my youngest was ten, I was separated from her dad. It was September and we were trying to mend some bruises between us. I read online that the Perseids were showing that night. I stayed up, packed cocoa and cookies and a blanket in the picnic basket, and gently woke my daughter at 2:00am. I got her in the car and drove to the local ski area. The night sky was clear and deep navy. We stretched out on the hood of the car, covered up with the blanket, and watched hundreds of shooting stars crisscross the night sky. It is a memory we both hold very dear.

The sky represents the endless possibilities in life. The ever changing tapestry reminds us that life is anything but static. Stop and look up. Don’t let life pass you by…count the stars! <3

“And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.”

Genesis 1:6-8