Paint the Sky

Why? I don't know. Why not?

No, actually because I found a quote on Pinterest. "Paint the sky, make it yours."

Painting the sky is no small deal. If we paint the sky, everyone knows what we're doing. It's way out in the open. It's big. I think it tends to be easier to paint the ground, or the wall, or maybe the ceiling if we're ambitious. The most we'll need is a ladder; there is a beginning and an end to the job. There's no real danger. But painting the sky is a whole different thing. Where do you start? Does the sky have a beginning? And what about an ending? The sky kind of goes on forever....

This might seem a little abstract, but I actually think it's really important. There are a lot of different ways to do life. Various things come more naturally to different people, of course. As an introvert, I would typically rather paint in the corner. It is possible that at some point that will be a nice looking corner, and someone might stop to look at it. But when I make mistakes, it's likely that relatively few people will notice. I really like the song "Brighten the Corner Where You Are." But who said we had to stay in the corner?

What if we weren't meant to be in the corner at all? What if the point is to paint the sky? Maybe not the whole sky (I think that's a little too much for just one lifetime), but even just one brush stroke.

I don't really know what painting the sky actually looks like in real life. If you have ideas, feel free to share. But I think it's something like boldness, confidence, and willingness to both try and fail. I'm sure this looks different for every person, every day. But there's got to be something. Something each of us can do that has potential. Super great potential to either succeed, or miserably fail.

For me, I think this might look like telling a story to the kids in French this week (or rather, trying to). Or maybe sitting down with one of my patients and explaining to them everything I can about why they're in the hospital, what sort of treatment were giving them and why, what medications they are on, how to take them and what they're for, how they can prevent this from happening again. Maybe it's doing a craft with the kids who are in the hospital.

I think painting the sky is more about what we put into it than making a huge difference in the world. If I paint one little brush stroke, it's not going to change the color of the sky. But with time, maybe many strokes will change it. Maybe painting the sky is how we revolutionize the world. If that's the case, then it's certainly worth putting in some effort.

Let's make the sky ours. One stroke at a time.