How often do you step outside on a bright clear day to look deep into the sky and seriously ponder that you are looking at the same sky you see at night except now the air has its oxygen molecules illuminated by the star burning almost 93 million miles away in space?

Do many people take pause to consider that the gas around them not only sustains our lives but also colors our view of space? Twenty-one percent of the air is oxygen which is tinted blue compared to the 78% nitrogen that has no color and is transparent. In the evening when photons are mostly absent, we can easily see through our atmosphere and take notice of the bright specks of light known as stars.

The clouds are densities of water crystals whose particles are significantly larger than oxygen molecules and instead of scattering blue they scatter the white light of the sun and our clouds appear in their distinct billowy puffs that drift effortlessly against the dramatic blue background.

This all happens for the majority of us out of sight and out of mind, but we should never take this incredible bit of science for granted, as it is the complex relationship of systems that are essential to sustaining our version of life.

Have you stopped to watch a cloud form or seen it simply disappear into the blue? I’d venture to guess that most people who live in urban settings have watched more television than they’ve consciously gazed upon the heavens above.

Sometimes I don’t realize how lucky I am that we see blue skies over Arizona nearly every day, including stormy days. I’ve lived in a city for 10 years where the majority of the year seemed to have cloud cover that obscured the sky beyond more often than not. It wasn’t easy to visit the ocean or a large body of water either. Although I’m now in a desert, Caroline and I haven’t encountered too much resistance to making our way to America’s waterways and oceans. This though is a luxury while looking out upon the sky merely requires us to go outside.

Consider how amazing the opportunity is to see with our own eyes the play of elements that flash within the minds of humans fortunate enough to comprehend the reality of the sky above us. We are here only momentarily to see it for ourselves, but do we choose to witness this spectacle firsthand, or do we remain oblivious to how profound this part of the world around us truly is?