Cloudy skies.

But sometimes, it’s not easy maintaining a positive attitude when dark clouds seemed stalled over your head and there’s a lot of stuff going on in your life. While there is a break in the clouds on occasion, mostly it’s overcast. God seems to have spread a gray sheet between Him and us.

Would you agree we all have days like that? Sometimes a number of them in a row. 

• We’re not clinically depressed.
• We don’t need medication.
• We don’t need therapy.

We just need a break from the clouds because we’re getting tired.

Responding to cloudy days.

I find when I’m under grey clouds, it helps to remember the transient nature of clouds. Even today as I write, the sky overhead can’t seem to make up its mind.  Will the clouds be given permission to part so the sun can shine through or will they remain huddled together in a solid mass? 

But remember, God is there in the clouds and when Christ returns, it will be in the clouds. It’s easy to think on these dark and gloomy days that God is absent. Haven’t you ever felt that way? God seems distant. David expressed this often throughout the Psalms. So I guess if Davi

When David expressed his despair, he often talked to his soul, “My would why are you downcast? Why are you disturbed? Put your (referring to his soul) hope in God”. David had a good talking to himself. Sometimes we need to do the same.

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Of course, there are days we might even welcome the cloudy days. If we’re already having a contemplative day, we might actually prefer clouds. I think you know what I mean. There’s something that appeals to us when the sky matches our mood. It’s like friends.

Friends help when the clouds hover

When we’re in the dumps we usually seek friends who we know will be sensitive to our moods by their manner of speech, and choice of words. We don’t need them to act depressed, of course, but we don’t want someone who acts too cheerful either. It’s insulting. Sometimes a pep talk is needed but not in a “rah, rah”, cheerleader mode.  I try to make sure I act appropriately as well when I’m the one listening. Something I experienced a few years ago brought that home to me. 

How to share your sunny days

I mentioned to a group of people in a meeting I was in about how fortunate I felt when compared to the rest of the world. One individual, (I later learned) felt I was saying I was “better” than other people because I said I felt blessed. (By the way, I still feel blessed.) I guess it’s all how you look at things. Glass half-empty or glass half full. I wasn’t aware that this person was struggling with some serious issues. To someone who wasn’t feeling very blessed himself, my remarks must have felt like cold water splashed in his face.

I’ve since learned to be careful how I share these kinds of things. I try to remember that while my clouds have moved, for the time being, someone else’s clouds have just shown up. I wished he could have seen my past and the clouds that once hovered over me as well. a

Strategies for gray days

If I’ve planned a day to stay inside and pursue a creative project, I kind of like gray days. But if I’m feeling really down, I don’t want the gray clouds; I want the sun. I want something to interrupt my mood and cheer me up. When the gray clouds are not welcome, we should remind ourselves that clouds, by their very nature, move. (Of course, if you live in Michigan as I do, you might have to wait weeks, not days.) If we keep putting one foot in front of the other the sun eventually does break through. Our mood gets better. We see things more clearly. It’s just the unrelenting nature of life.  All we have to do is look above us and wait for the sky to change.

But that’s with just about anything, isn’t it? If we can just keep on keeping on, the dark clouds will eventually go away. It doesn’t necessarily get sunny right away but at least we can see glimpses peeking through.

I hope you aren’t under dark clouds today. It’s a hard place to be. Remember though, God brought his people through the wilderness for forty years by a cloud. If He can do it once, God can do it again.

God bless and have a good day.