Happy birthday to me

Twin Clouds, by Chris Overvoorde

Today I turn 54. I'm having a wonderful time celebrating but I keep thinking, too, of the fact that I have now passed the length of time that my brother Dan was alive. It's hard to believe. And hard to imagine having only 53 years of life on earth. It makes me so very sad. My sadness is always mixed with gratitude, though, for the life Dan was able to live and the family and friends who were such a blessing to him, and to whom he was a blessing.

The image I included above is a painting by Chris Overvoorde, an art professor at Calvin whose art includes many paintings like the one above, where the sky is the main thing on the canvas. I do love the sky. I have thought about it often this weekend as we are visiting my daughter in San Diego. The sky has been so blue and bright, with classic white, puffy clouds shining in the clear air.

Randy and I took a trip to Albuquerque once just to sightsee, and the New Mexican skies were fascinating to me. Each afternoon big, cumulus clouds would pile up and there'd usually be a bit of rain. But throughout the day things in the sky were always changing. And at night the stars were incredible. We took long drives through desert, high desert, scrubland, from sun & heat all the way to peaks and snow. At one point while we were driving Randy asked me what I was thinking and I said, "I was thinking I haven't looked straight up yet."

That verse that says the Psalmist's help comes from the hills I think I would change...

I lift up my eyes to the [skies]—

       where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD,

       the Maker of heaven and earth

---Psalm 121:1,2