those foggy moments

Yesterday morning as I headed out on my walk I couldn't help but feel secluded. We've welcomed some rain the last couple of days and the result has been some foggy overcast mornings.  As the fog settled around my little town, it hid the mountain range from view.

It reminded me of a trip Bruce and I took up to Revelstoke BC several years ago. We arrived on a Friday late afternoon and checked into our hotel room ducking raindrops. In our room as I gazed out the window at the town, shrouded in mist, I had no idea what was out there beyond the roof tops in the next city block.

view from our motel room window-- in the light of day!

It was with joyful delight that the next morning, with the sun shining brightly and not a cloud in the sky, a great reveal was made. Beautiful glorious mountains-- jagged and awesome in size and shape, reigned above the town. In the dark of the night, with the cloud cover, we had no idea what the area looked like. Until the fresh light of day swept the cloud and fog away, we might have thought this a flat monotonous landscape.

Revelstoke BC in the fall. Sept. 2006

Later yesterday, as I drove into town to meet a friend, I could see glimpses of sun breaking through the clouds. Like ombre coloring, the shaded sky went from dark heavy gray to heather to pink the closer I got to the ocean. It was a treat to find I wouldn't need my sweater once I arrived at my destination. For here, the sun had pierced the clouds and while it wasn't quite a blissful blue, the atmosphere held promise.

As I sipped my London Fog and watched the waves crash in on the rocks below me, my eyes searched the horizon. Following the light as far as I could, I couldn't help but think about the fog that overtakes me spiritually from time to time.

When my depression takes forefront in my life, when stress claims my attention and pulls it away from trusting God, something happens to my eyesight. It becomes short sighted. I can't see any further than what is in front of me. My horizon is blocked and it feels like the earth just ends where the wall of fog begins. It's easy to lose sight of what's real when your vision is blocked. When the haze blinds you to possibilities beyond what you can imagine.

I have to remember that just as I could get in my car and drive out of the fog, until I reached a light-filled place, so it is with my emotional and mental state. I have to believe that there is light beyond the darkness. I need to place my trust in God, regardless of my circumstances.