blue skies, megaphones, and spotlights.

Blue skies smiling at me::Nothing but blue skies do I see::Bluebirds singing a song::Nothing but bluebirds from now on::Never saw the sun shining so bright::Never saw things going so right::Noticing the days hurrying by::When you're in love my how they fly::Blue days all of them gone::Nothing but blue skies from now on:: "Blue Skies" written by Irving Berlin

Thank you, Mr. Berlin, for this toe tappin' tune indeed.

There is a certain irony to jamming out to this song in misty filled air and falling rain; hence the sky is full of clouds and the land is blanketed with a light fog...yeah, no blue skies.
...at night; hence it's dark out...yeah, no sun shining bright.
...while driving down a dirt road that has turned to mush; hence you're pretty much muddin' in your Bonneville....yeah, a good ol' pick up truck would have seemed more fitting as waves of muddy water splashed Bertha (my car).

Yet, even without being behind the wheel of a pickup, there was a certain kind of spunky, fun irony as this song was the soundtrack playing in my car to the scene described above while driving home from a friend's house last week. I couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the situation in my car or at the irony of what I was feelin' around me.

Hmmm...maybe irony isn't the right word here.

I'm thinking that shifting atmospheres is more like it. I laughed partly at the irony but mostly because I knew a shift was in process.

Yes...shifting atmospheres...

Ya know, like changing the mood or the vibe of what's going on in and around you. Or choosing a new outlook. Not coming under that dreariness of the day but standing over it. Not partnering with "blah" but linking arms with "blue skies" instead.

Bottom line is that it's choosing to ask God what He's doing in a circumstance and choosing to live from His truth and reality...not the dreariness of what we see or feel around us sometimes. That dreariness...that's not God, fyi. So no linking arms with it. The things we say and speak over ourselves, others, our circumstances...this is what we are agreeing with. The things we fix our eyes on...this is what we are linking arms with and this is what we are becoming. This matters...big time. More on this later.  

The sun hasn't shone here for over a week but "Blue Skies" has been playing frequently. In my head. Through speakers in my apartment. In my car as I drive from one place to the next. Through headphones as I run around town.

Surprisingly, I'm not sick of it. That's good news because there's something about this song right now that God is using to keep me connected to His perspective on things. In recent weeks, there were a few times I almost let myself get stuck in a pit of yuck while clouds of discouragement and depression hovered around me.

But blue skies are what I'm declaring and choosing to see.
 

"Nothing but blue skies do I see..." *toes-a-tappin* Have a listen. It's hard to sit still.

Choose not to give the junk you might be sensing around you right now your megaphone...aka your voice. Or your time. Your attention. Your focus.

Choose to stop shining a spot light on the negative. Yes, even what can seem like the smallest of things. If the spotlight is on those things, large or small, that means the spotlight is not shining on God, who is the One truly deserving of the spotlight and who has the solution to shift the atmosphere into something of Him. He wants to show you how to partner with Him to bring a change!

I'm not saying to ignore stuff you may need to deal with. But we need to position ourselves by focusing on God's perspective so we can release the qualities of the Kingdom of Heaven and change some atmospheres...