There had been storms that day. Was it... I felt for my glasses and put them on, peering through the window. Lightning burst across the sky, some here, some there, only a few seconds of darkness to break the brilliance. I rushed back through the dark house to the front door and flew out to the porch, mouth hanging open in eager expectation. What met me was a stunning silence. There was no thunder, only the play of lights in the sky. Occasionally there were streaks, the rest of the time the light was hidden behind clouds that dispersed it over my entire field of vision for a brief moment. I attempted to capture a few bursts in photos, then sat down to simply enjoy it.
It was 1 AM.
I should have been asleep by now, but the night was mesmerizing. As I sat I became aware of sounds: the light breeze stirring the wind chimes, a chorus of crickets in the grass down below, the last wheels of a train clicking by in the distance, a single cow lowing. Though I strained my ears for thunder I heard nothing, and still the lightning danced, and never seemed to tire. The clouds changed as I mapped them. The wind blew them east, but the lightning remained steady. Two storms, it seemed, one to the left and one to the right. Occasionally a many streaked bolt would jump into the dark space between the two.
I thought of the beauty of the sky and was sad for a moment. Most people were asleep by now, or locked safely in their houses behind curtained windows. They were missing this brilliant fireworks display. Certainly they had seen sunsets and sunrises and majestic thunderclouds in all their slow, steady pace, but had they seen this? The lightning came and went only for a moment, but there was moment after moment after moment! Most people value the beauty of the night sky in stars, and count a cloudy night a waste. But would this display be half so brilliant at noon?! Here in the darkness the clouds gave the bolts a landscape to run over. The sky housed ever-changing mountains that gave the light something to hide behind and spill over.
And then the beauty combined. I had thought I could have only the lightning or the stars, but here suddenly was both! The wind had blown the last wisps of cloud from one half of the sky and countless stars replaced them, far too many to be seen over this populated area. But though the clouds moved, the lightning remained steady, and the presence of both overwhelmed me. My camera had had a difficult enough time with lightning; it could not capture stars. I felt sad again, for all the sleeping people in the houses around me, clueless to what was happening outside. I could not capture it for them. They were missing it. But in the midst of my sadness I realized something else, and the realization chased everything else from my mind.
Even as God made the sun shine in the day, and burst in the morning and fade blazing in the evening, and even as He made all the clouds of the blue sky tower and curl over that wide canvas, even as He made the stars a trillion bright, He also made these nights. Though only one or even no one would witness it, He made the lightning storm come forth. We humans tend to put our effort into what shows, but He saved this powerful, flashing, ever-changing masterpiece for the hidden hour! How blessed are we to have a God who delights in beauty, whether seen at midday or hidden in the dark of night! I felt a great sense of gratitude, as if I had been given a backstage pass to a concert of my favorite musician, or been granted access to watch an author pen a best-selling novel. Somehow, I was here, privileged to see this display. Glad was I to have been awake so long that night. I had a box seat alone with God for His masterpiece of a production. And the storm still went on. I departed long before it was over, because I felt peace.
Our God never sleeps.
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