The Epiphany of Little Cloud

Dear Reader:

Last Saturday when Tommy and I were watching Rutledge and Lachlan in the park near their house…Rutledge was swinging high enough to jump on a cloud…at least that was what he wished for he told Tommy and me. He wanted to catch a cloud to ride to heaven on…

I told him that there weren’t any or hardly any clouds out that day but the time would come, in the blink of an eye, when this magical ride would happen ..but not this day. He just grinned and kept pumping away.

So when I came across this Native-American story…my mind immediately went back to Rutledge’s comment…only this time it is the “little cloud” that learns something new.

“The Epiphany of Little Cloud”

The Thunder-beings were busy giving birth to new clouds, sending them to dance in the blue playground of sky. Grandfather Sun provided the glittering sunbeams, which acted like jump ropes for today’s newborn white, puffy Cloud People.

One of the most curious little clouds wandered off on the winds. She decided she was going to have a talk with Sacred Mountain. “Grandmother Mountain, I’ve come to ask you if your forests need rain today,” she said. “I want to be of service, and so I thought I had better find out what is needed most.”

Sacred Mountain told the little cloud that there was plenty of moisture today, but the little one could help in another way. Sacred Mountain taught the little cloud how to understand the thoughts and questions the human beings might have. It was fun for the little cloud to capture the waves of human thoughts rising from the Earth and to answer the humans’ unspoken questions by becoming shapes that formed a series of ideas. The needed answers were found through connecting the thoughts together.

The little cloud approached Sacred Mountain at the end of the day with another question that caused it to have a heavy heart, “Grandmother Mountain, I’ve worked all day to reflect helpful answers to the Human Tribe, but now I have one very important question. How can we get them to look up and pay attention?”

So until tomorrow…Don’t you think our Creator feels the same way? I imagine God wishes we would all look up to Him more and then pay attention to His answers.

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”

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