Article August 31, 1918 Issue

A Lesson from the Clouds

CARRIE A. MC LEOD

One morning, from the topmost window of a city apartment, looking out into the open sky, I could see but two clouds—one small, luminous, and golden, radiant with the beauty of the morning; the other, dark, heavy, and unattractively spread out. How strange, I thought, that these two clouds should be in such close proximity, and yet bear no resemblance to each other. How like an individual basking in the warm sunshine of Life and Love was the little cloud! How like a darkened mortal, absorbed in his own self-interest, seemed the huge cloud, unillumined! I soon discovered, however, why the smaller cloud was fast blazing into splendor and exceeding brightness: the morning sun was just rising, and was shining directly on the cloud, which evidently was in the right place to reflect the sunshine. With no inherent beauty, it beamed all the glory of reflection upon everything around it. It lost all its own dullness in becoming a reflector for something outside of itself.

What a lesson to us all! Mrs. Eddy says in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 510), "The sun is a metaphorical representation of Soul outside the body, giving existence and intelligence to the universe." Looking at the little cloud, which was becoming more and more glorious as it yielded itself to illumination by the great orb of day, this text from the Bible came to my thought: "Whosoever shall lose his life for my sake ... shall save it." Here, I thought, is the symbol of true identity. When we relinquish our faith in mortal selfhood and its delusion of believing that we possess an existence apart from God, at that moment we are situated where the darkness can be replaced by light, where the somber tints of shadowy earth beliefs can be transformed by the hues of spiritual reality. The little cloud had been transformed by reflection, and thereby gained a greater glory. In Science and Health (p. 265) we read: "This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for Spirit, by no means suggests man's absorption into Deity and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man enlarged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action, a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent peace."

When I looked at the sky again, the large cloud was taking upon itself here and there luminous points—wonderfully prophetic. No longer was it dull and uninteresting. I watched until both clouds were clothed in light, and instantly the lesson gained recalled an experience in Christian Science which came under my notice,—an experience where the recognition of the goodness of God displaced error, and by reflection illustrated the light and glory of God's government.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

A Lesson from the Clouds

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access