The Constant Things

In the book of Fairy Tales I am reading, there is a story about an obnoxious little chicken who thinks the Sky is falling. For any unfamiliar with the tale, the chicken's cries alert all his neighbors in the near vicinity and soon chaos reigns because everyone thinks the sky is going to fall.

I had a long night yesterday. After a long day of study, my cousin and I went for a girls' evening together. We went and got something to eat, tried some sumptuous frozen yogurt, talked to my other cousin, and then finally went to a movie at about 10:00 at night. It was excessively violent (though not immoral, thank heaven), but had a very exciting plot line. But that's not the point - this is not a movie review website (usually). Anyway, we got back to my apartment a little after midnight, where my roommates where hanging up some decor they had found earlier - a task with which we gladly assisted. Between one thing and another we didn't get to bed until nearly 2 in the morning (well past my bedtime, I assure you).

I woke up at 8 this morning wtih mixed emotions, very few of them positive. Dead tired... frustrated with home improvements... guilty about not eating very healthily yesterday... disappointed that my cousin had to leave earlier than expected...

I rolled onto my back and looked out the window. There was the morning sky, clear and bright and blue, and at the sight I was instantly comforted. I noticed that the horizon was still pink, and so, much to the surprise of my cousin and roommate, I snatched up my slippers and robe and sprinted out into the crisp morning air. I stayed there for some time, breathing in the bracing chill of the morning, watching the sun manifest itself in the sky before its true entrance. The sky had turned a light cerulean, and all the mountins and the clouds around them were tinted pink. A pool of golden sunlight was visible a few miles off, making its way slowly  but surely toward my apartment complex, which was still cloaked in shadow. The sun was begining to break away from the eastern cliffs when I finally went inside.

The heavens have always been a fascination for mankind. The greeks put their ample imaginations to work and filled the nighttime sky with heros. The pirates and explorers of antiquity used the sky as their guide, to bring them safely across the sea. I cannot say to the point what allure the sky holds for me - it's not any one aspect. I love that it looks beautiful in whatever it's wearing - be it billows of storm-gray clouds, constellation-strewn black, pink and gold dawn, orange and red twilight, or even perfect summer blue. And I love that as much as the sky changes, in its way it is always the same - always there, ready for the world to look upon it in all its splendor.

This morning taught me somthing. While you may think that your whole world is crumbling, that everything is falling apart, all you have to do is look around to discover that the exact opposite is true. Even if you have bombed a test, or forgotten a rent payment, or dented your car - whatever it be - the world does not cease in its turning. The sky is not falling. It's still there, still beautiful, despite your life's insantiy. I think that is why I found the heavens so comforting this morning. It is one of those constant things, the things that will not change. Things like the sun rising in the east, or the peaks of the mountains, or the push and pull of the ocean, or whisper of the wind.

And you  may believe what you will, but I know that our Heavenly Father is one of the constant things, too. He is like the sky - always there, always watching, always waiting for the children of men to look up and see his grace and mercy. And like the heavens above, he will never fall.