Kristen Henderlong

I wake up to a thick mist outside. The air is heavy.  It’s quiet.  Everything in front of me seems so close; everything far away is out of sight.  It lays like a thick blanket on the earth, shielding her from the sun.  It blurs the colors around me, making everything look a shade of gray.  

It can be frustrating… trying to drive in the fog and see where I am going. It’s dangerous and full of the unknown.

Yet this sense of peace comes over me; especially this time of year when spring is here, summer around the corner. There is fog, but the birds are singing. There is fog, but there is a crisp, refreshing smell. There is fog, but there is peace.

Has life ever felt like this to you?

You wake up and realize everything around you has become a shade of gray.  Nothing stands out to you anymore.  All you have is right in front of you; everything in the distance is invisible.  Trying to get anywhere seems impossible; feels dangerous and daring.  The fog lays thick and you feel suffocated. The light is muffled; not gone, but not very bright…

The good news is: the sun is too strong, too warm and too bright for the fog to stick around.

There is hope for lighter days.

But what about right now?

Think about a black and white picture. You think gray, bland, foggy. But if you look a little closer, there is something significant about it; something so intense and real. The lack of color emphasizes permanence.  It draws your attention differently than that of a vibrant, colorful picture.  It is serious, unchanging… beautiful.

Maybe this is the way we should be viewing the gray fog in our lives. It’s not a dull, empty season. It is a significant time. It is intense and real.

No matter what we go through, there are always things to be grateful for.  Even if it is simply the air we breathe—something we rarely think about and always take for granted. If we keep an open mind and heart, our attention is drawn to these simple things when we wake up to a thick, dense fog around us.  

Everything in front of us is so close.  Everything far away doesn’t matter.  Trying to get anywhere is no longer a concern, because we are right here. Right here is where we belong.

You don’t have to be afraid of the unknown.

Live right now.

Embrace the foggy mornings.