{"id":5615,"date":"2026-07-30T08:55:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T12:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5615"},"modified":"2026-07-30T08:55:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T12:55:29","slug":"cloud-nine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/30\/cloud-nine\/","title":{"rendered":"Cloud Nine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast<\/em>,\u00a0click here<\/a>
\u00a0

In 1803, an English pharmacist named Luke Howard forever changed the way we talk about clouds.

He helpfully suggested that clouds be classified into three groups.

Layered clouds he called stratus.\u00a0<\/em>Fluffy clouds he named cumulus.\u00a0<\/em>And the high feathery ones he labeled cirrus.\u00a0<\/em>More than 200 years later, meteorologists and schoolchildren alike still use Howard\u2019s terminology.

In 1896, the International Cloud Atlas <\/em>(there really is such a thing) determined that there ought to be ten classifications. The atlas has never seriously threatened to eliminate Howard\u2019s terminology. But it unintentionally introduced a common English phrase.\u00a0

The ninth entry on the ICA\u2019s list of cloud categories is the plump, pillowy \u201ccotton ball\u201d clouds that dot the typical summer sky \u2013 a picture that elicits such a feeling of well-being or elation that someone can be said to \u201cbe on Cloud Nine.\u201d

Clouds may look substantive.\u00a0But there\u2019s really not much to them.

Stanford professor James Trefil points out that an ordinary cloud, which may have the dimensions of several football fields, contains only about 25-30 gallons of water.\u00a0That\u2019s \u201cabout enough to fill a bathtub,\u201d he reports.

Every time you stroll through a bank of fog, you\u2019re in the midst of a cloud that for one reason or another hasn\u2019t taken flight. Trefil observes, \u201cIf you walk 100 yards through a typical fog, you will come into contact with only about half a cubic inch of water \u2013 not enough to give you a decent drink.\u201d

But think of the power of those few water droplets.\u00a0They have the capacity to blind our vision, ground our air traffic, and even momentarily separate us from each other.

Spiritual fog is equally daunting.

When we can\u2019t see God, or what God is up to, we can feel paralyzed.\u00a0Everything stops.\u00a0Such uncertainty definitely doesn\u2019t feel like being on Cloud Nine.\u00a0

The one thing we do know is that we now have two choices:\u00a0We either can have a conversation with ourselves or a conversation with God.<\/em>

Somebody is in charge of what’s happening to me. Either I think I’m in charge (in which case I have a lot of worrying to do), or I become convinced that God’s in charge.\u00a0\u00a0

Anxious fretting is a conversation I have with myself.\u00a0“I have no idea how I got into this mess.\u00a0What am I going to do now?”\u00a0Prayer is a conversation I have with God.\u00a0“Lord, I can’t see you and I can’t see more than a few steps ahead.\u00a0What do you want to me to do next?”\u00a0

The choice of which conversation we pursue on any given day is often made at the first moment of wakefulness.\u00a0\u00a0

Before our feet hit the floor we can pray, “Father, I feel utterly fogged in. I don’t know how I’m going to make it through these next 24 hours.\u00a0But I’m so glad you’re in charge.”

With such simple words, the die is cast.\u00a0We have begun the process of ejecting worry from the driver’s seat.

It’s also worth knowing something else.

Fog is no match for the sun.\u00a0Even though it’s often declared that sunlight has the power to “burn off” a thick morning fog, it’s more accurate to say that when the sun-heated air and ground become sufficiently warm, the droplets simply evaporate.\u00a0They vanish, quite literally, into thin air.

That brings to mind a vivid image presented by one of the Hebrew prophets:\u00a0“But for you who revere [the Lord’s] name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays” (Malachi 4:2). \u00a0

We may think we’re facing an impenetrable barrier. But the sunshine of God’s healing love and grace always shines through, revealing our worries to be the impostors they truly are.

Every day, the choice is ours.\u00a0We can either talk to ourselves or talk to God.

Let’s talk to God.\u00a0<\/em>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here\u00a0 In 1803, an English pharmacist named Luke Howard forever changed the way we talk about clouds. He helpfully suggested that clouds be classified into three groups. Layered clouds he called stratus.\u00a0Fluffy clouds he named cumulus.\u00a0And the high feathery ones he labeled cirrus.\u00a0More than 200 years later, meteorologists and schoolchildren alike still… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[179,296],"class_list":["post-5615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-prayer","tag-worry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5615"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5617,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5615\/revisions\/5617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}