"Rows and floes of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons ev'rywhere
I've looked at clouds that way…….
I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
Its cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all."
~Joni Mitchell

The waning summer days make for great cloud watching. Have you noticed how the clouds these days are filled with amazing color…..soft pinks, deep lavenders, a tinge of yellow, sometimes even a rich purple….all held in the fluff of billowy white against the brilliant blue sky? It is worth paying attention to this sky show. It won't be evident in the same way come September. I don't know what causes the difference, simply that it seems like pure gift to me.

I don't know if it is the late summer atmosphere that has also brought the gift of my night time dreams which have been rich and wild recently. Vivid dreams, many of them seeming to be important message-filled wanderings that leave me pondering them all day. It is times like these that I wish I knew more about dreams, how to interpret them, what I am supposed to do with them. My dreams have been filled with important people, Jesus even,though he didn't look anything like any artistic image I have ever seen. I simply knew it was him and I was neither surprised nor frightened by his presence. It simply felt normal that he was there.A regular guy, a part of my every day life.

Then there are the dreams filled with people I don't know, have never seen before. How does the mind do that, conjuring up people you don't recognize? Is there a place in our brains that stores up images we encounter but don't register and use them to create middle-of-the-night films in our heads?

Last night I dreamed I was taking one of my co-workers' young son to Door County. He is really only a toddler, just over a year old. I was excited to be taking him to one of my favorite places, showing him the water, the stones on the beach, allowing him to soak in the fresh, clean air. As I carried this little one out onto the beach, my eyes recognized his parents, just out of eyesight, further down along the shore, looking on with protective eyes.

Dreams….clouds…..images and illusions…..all a part of the Mystery. I might surmise that Jesus' presence in my dreams was a gift of night time faith, an affirmation of a fellow traveler. And all those faces I don't recognize, a reminder of the invisible lines of connection we hold with all those who travel the path with us. And that little boy on the beach might just be my hope for our youngest who will soon travel off to his own adventures on the Pacific Northwest shores filled with its own stones and fresh breezes. My dream may have allowed me to know that, though he may be far away, we will always be just down the shore looking on with support and love, just out of sight, yet near.

And then again, if clouds illusions I recall, I really may not know anything at all about clouds or dreams. But I can receive them for the gift they are.