Tonight as I drove home from a long day of work and errands, it was late and I seemed to hit every stoplight. It was that time of day when the sun has set but its light still shines. As I sat at the stoplight amidst all the other tired drivers, I saw not the stoplight but the clouds lit by the setting sun. They were vividly beautiful reds, pinks, and violets, and their glow reminded me that it isn’t the stoplight I should be looking at, but the sky. There is more beyond a temporary obstacle in this life … much more.

The old saying “red sky at night, sailor’s delight” resonated in my heart and across my spirit. Another statement naturally followed “God is in His Heaven and all is right in the world.” Everything in your day may not go as planned, but God is in charge. A stoplight may delay you in getting home, but God is in His Heaven. If I had not run one more errand, if I had not hit that stoplight, I would not have seen the glorious sky with its blushing clouds and reminder that all around us are reminders of God’s sovereignty.

We get caught up in the details of our daily lives. We focus on what we have to get done, not whom we serve. We get frustrated at the client who goes back on the terms of a deal, another client who pays late, at employees who don’t do their best. All the frustrations pile upon us and draw our focus and drain our energy. And then we get stopped at a traffic light. We sit and wait … glancing around, and then we see it. We look up and know that God is in His Heaven and praising Him comes to the forefront of our mind. The creation that God places before us is visible only when we take the time to stop to see it.

Tonight as I write I thank God for stoplights and the sky I saw beyond it.

Ezekiel 40:4 (NKJV)
4  And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears, and fix your mind on everything I show you; for you were brought here so that I might show them to you. Declare to the house of Israel everything you see.”

 

Author:  Lea A. Strickland, MBA CMA CFM CBM GMC
Copyright ©2012 Lea A. Strickland
All Rights Reserved

 

 

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