Sweet Show!

Thunder and lightning go together like peanut butter and jelly or milk and cookies right?  Apparently not always so!  Up until last night, I have NEVER in my life seen so much lightning without even a low rumble of thunder.  It was extremely eerie watching lightning that close with so many rapid fire flashes but all the time being completely and utterly silent.

Apparently, (according to my aunt (a science teacher) and a little bit of internet research) this phenomenon is called cloud lightning or cloud to cloud lightning.  It is caused when a charge builds up on only one side of the cloud and the lightning stays within the cloud and doesn't strike the ground.  Generally, the cloud lights up and flickers (which is what we observed) and the lightning occurs at very rapid intervals.

Who knew!?

(This isn't my pic, just one of Intra Cloud Cloud to Cloud lightning)

Summer Rains and Nights

The Walk:

As I walked out my back door last night to go to work I was overcome by the smell of wet grass and asphalt, smoothly blended with the heavy, amplified aroma of flower blooms.  It's funny how a cold, cloudy day can be changed so quickly by just 15 minutes of rain.  It was the smell of summer.

The Drive:

My mind was still preoccupied with processing the smells from a few minutes prior but I couldn't help but observe with awe the deep pigments and fading light of an almost spent sunset.  Wow.  It was so beautiful.  Who am I to deserve to witness and partake of this beauty? Everyday?

The After:

Pulling back into my parking lot the moon, or rather the obvious lack thereof of a definite "moon" caught my attention.  Sometimes the nature of something shines through even though the face of it is hidden. Like the moon behind a cloud, the bright streams of light break through the patches of open sky giving one glimpses of the bright hope that is beyond and even though you can't see the face of the moon, you know it is there by the beautiful reflected light.

Isn't that what my life is supposed to look like? Like the moon, seeing ME is unnecessary.  My purpose is to reflect the light of my Father's Grace, Mercy, Love, and Hope to the dark world.  That light much more observable if the moon's face isn't distractingly drawing attention to itself.