BURNING CLOUDS

DEMARIS WEHR,—OAK BLUFFS MASSACHUSETTS

Such a light-appearing, golden-lining feeling, is what prompted me to take this photograph last year, just outside Missoula, Montana.

Forests were burning nearby, the smoke darkening the skies. The clouds were omnious, smudged with shadows and showing striking contrasts. The scene looked apocalyptic.

Suddenly I glimpsed the lining on the blackest clouds and the backdrop of pale orange clouds catching the glow from the forest fires below. As I watched, the heavens seemed to light up with a feeling of hope. It was as though the fires might be burning away much of the dross that clutters our lives. And the shining in the clouds held a promise from God of purification:

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 123)

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