30,000 feet above the earth

As I was heading to Banff, Canada in Feb 2019 I was looking out the window to the clouds and scenery. At first there weren't many clouds, but then we got to a place that all you could see in any direction were these beautiful white clouds.

In the moment I thought to myself, "Wow, that's beautiful!" And then I started thinking about the clouds and how so many times in my life I can't see above the clouds. From this side of the clouds it looked beautiful, but down on earth there was a horrible storm sweeping across the Great Plains and I'm sure they couldn't see the beauty that I was seeing.

It was during this time of thinking that I realized how I view storms is typically different than how I should view them. You see... in life, storms are bound to happen. You can't bypass them, you can't avoid them, nor can you ignore them. They will happen and will sometimes bring destruction.

However, when we stay planted on earth we will be tossed to and fro and won't know what's up or down or we may even feel abandoned. But we don't have to go through the storms like that. But when we move up above the clouds to see the top of the storm we can see the beauty that comes from the storms.

Even though destruction happens in the storm, it is needed. During the storms we are able to be refined and things in our life we need to release can be released. Maybe we have felt so dry that we need a monsoon to come and bring life back to our dry grounds. In the midst of the storm it is important to understand that we aren't meant to do things alone.

Believe me, I understand that some storms look like nothing good can come from it, but from my experience I have come to realize that the worst storms comes with the best outcomes. Six months before this trip I felt like I had just been blown off of a mountain that turned into a volcano. I had no clue where I was going to land. I no longer knew what was to come of my life. I felt like everything in my world had changed and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

People I care about deeply were hurt. I wanted to make everything better. But again, there was nothing I could do. It was on a trip to Israel a couple of months after these photos that I realized that there was an even greater opportunity for my future than what I would have been doing if the storm would not have changed the trajectory of my future.

In the same way, when I was flying over the earth at 30,000 feet above sea-level, I was thinking about all of the adventures that I can take in the future and how there is always something on the other side of the storm. So, instead of looking for the turmoil and chaos, look to see the beauty and calmness that can be experienced inside the storm.

I hope that as you read this that you are able to see the beauty in the midst of your chaos. Believe me, I'm still having to remind myself of the beauty I saw, but once you see the beauty, it's easier to remind yourself that you have great plans ahead of you and that you just need to look in the chaos to bring forth the beauty that would never be found otherwise.

Keep searching for beauty!