July 18, 2014 - Silver Lining

I had heard the story about the cloud with the silver lining, and I was skeptical.  I had seen thousands upon thousands of clouds in my life, and never once did I come across any silver.  But it was a difficult time, you see.  The situation was bleak and I was downtrodden--at the end, one might say.  And I thought about the cloud.  What if I could find that cloud with the silver lining?  Wouldn't it take care of all my pressing problems?  Wouldn't it bring me ease and prosperity and peace?  I decided it would, so I set out to find the cloud.  I never figured I would because I assumed it was just a myth, but if nothing else, I'd be able to put that myth to rest.

Very, very early in the morning, I crept out of my house, shrouded in a gray cloak.  It was a cool morning and a thin mist was all around me.  I took the secret path through the woods, the one that no one else knows about.  The moss was heavy under my feet as I walked, springing upward with a luxurious softness.  It felt good, as it always does when I take the secret path.  I could hear the morning birds around me, the tiny finches, the larger bluejays, the cardinals, and best of all my favorite bird, the hermit thrush.  The thrushes followed me as I walked the path, singing their haunting melody.  All around me was the heady, deep scent of pine.  The air was so fresh that I filled my lungs as much as I could, exhaling with a long sigh and starting all over again.  I saw tiny squirrels, rabbits, and deer.  None of them seemed to mind me as they all looked for their breakfast.

At last I made it to the pond.  The water was as still as a mirror, and the sky was reflected in it perfectly.  I could see ducks and geese on the far shore.  They, too, were looking for breakfast and did not seem to mind me at all.  I saw a red fox watching them closely, eager for his breakfast as well.  Occasionally, a fish would jump and then the ripples would spread all across the pond in a perfect geometric order.

Silver lining cloud?

But where was the mythical cloud, I wondered?  As if on command, the songbirds announced the arrival of the sun.  I looked up and knew that he'd have his way again with this day, threatening to shine brilliantly, he was.  But alas, everywhere I looked I saw no silver.  Since no one ever comes to the pond, I yelled out loud to the sun, "Where is the silver??"  He laughed back at me and said, "You might have left it in the woods!"

It was as I suspected.  There was no silver to be found anywhere.  I retraced my steps home:  the fish, the fox, the ducks and geese, the deer, the rabbits, the squirrels, the birds, the hermit thrush, the pine trees, and the moss.  I looked for them all and waved, delighted that I was part of their world.  When I got home, imagine my surprise when I found the ease and prosperity and peace I'd been looking for all along.  It was right in my chair by the fireplace.  Perhaps the sun was right after all.