Both Sides Now

The billowinig clouds outside the plane window reminded me of beaten eggwhites or ice sculptures. They look so soft, yet the plane flies right through them as if they were just a bump in the road. I could see faces and angels and towers and animals in the shapes of their fluffy-ness. From below, the clouds look smoother and wispier. From above you can see them surging upward and forming magnificent creations. Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" was running through my head.... "I've looked at clouds from both sides now..." It's a treat to look down on them from the plane. The rest of the song is about love... "I've looked at love from both sides now, from up and down, and still somehow, it's love's illusions I recall, I really don't know love...at all." (that's my memory, I didn't look up the words.)

Does any of us really know love? We think we do, but pure love is elusive. It's important to look at love -- and anything else, for that matter -- from both sides; from up and down. Some of the resolutions to be brought before the UCC General Synod will require us to do just that... to look at issues from both sides, to love one another, and to make sure everyone is heard.