Clouds by Zach Sobiech

When I walked in the house the clouds were still yellow and pink but by the time I got outside (a sometimes slow and laborious process) there was only a hint of pink and purple left.

I wanted to get a shot of the clouds. I had been thinking a lot about clouds and life because I’ve been reading Fly a Little Higher by Laura Sobiech. It is the story of her son Zach who had cancer for three years and wrote the song “Clouds” as a way to say goodbye to his friends and family before he died May 20, 2013. Zach and his family were willing to follow the path God set for them even when the path didn’t make sense or seemed to intrude on family life. They did it because they wanted to lift others.

When the craze over this song was happening I was completely unaware. Not unusual for me. My little world is pretty small and trends don’t reach me for years if ever. However, the message of the song and the book touched me deeply. As they said many times, it is not about Zach dying. It is about how he lived and showed us how to live.

I’ve learned a little of this. I’ve learned to savor the small moments. It is the times you stop to live for a moment instead of always reaching for the next that make your memories. Riding in the Corvette, holding my husbands hand, looking down at Jaden’s face for the first time when I picked him up in Georgia to bring him home to be a part of our family.

For a long time I have felt pushed to share a message through my writing. It felt too bold to think that what I have to say would be good enough, worth enough, to print and for people to pay for. That is what kept blocking me. But Zach didn’t have enough time to be afraid or worry about all those things. How do I know I have the time to put it off and let fear and difficulty rule me?

It is time to write the things God wants me to write. I don’t want to, they are hard, I don’t know how to do it. But somewhere down the road someone needs to read what I have to write. It is my journey from the darkest abyss of abuse without God into the light of a new life through the atonement of Christ.

Thank you Zach and the whole Sobeich family (including friends) for inspiring me to step out of my comfort zone and give something to the world simply because God has asked me to.