I've been living with rain for about three days now. It comes and goes, and right now, it seems as though it's here to stay. I've been doing some reflecting while watching the rain, and I've found that there are some things that are quite characteristic of not only rain, but of life as well. I hope the things you read next will offer some insight for you, as they did for me.
One: Rain varies depending on where you are.
It could be lightly sprinkling, it could be relentlessly pouring down, or there
could be no rain at all. You can be sitting at a window, watching as the rain
comes down in torrents, while someone else is enjoying a perfectly sunny day.
It all depends on where you’re at. For me, it’s raining right now. It’s
somewhere between a drizzle and a downpour, a significant amount, but I am in
no concern of a flood.
Two: When you think you don’t need an
umbrella, that’s when it usually starts raining the hardest. Sure, it might be
just a light sprinkle when you start out the day, but it never fails. As the
day goes on, the rain gets harder, and you find yourself soaking wet and
wishing you had brought the umbrella.
Three: When you have your umbrella, a rainy
day is always so much more pleasant. Even those of us who love rainy weather
can still become downtrodden and miserable when we’re caught unaware in a
storm. But as long as we’ve got a trusty umbrella with us, even the worst weather
seems like nothing more than an adventure. That one object can make all the
difference in a person’s mood.
Four: It can be raining in your life,
without raining outside. I trust that
you understand my meaning. That’s what happened for me, about three weeks ago.
There was not a drop on the ground, and yet it felt to me like there was an
endless bucket being poured over my head.
Five: Those who see the beauty, tend to
enjoy the rain the most. Rain is wet. It’s cold. It makes things muddy, makes
it hard to see, hard to drive, hard to get anywhere or do anything in a timely
manner. All of these things are usually true. But for those who see the beauty
of each rain drop, the possibility that rests within the drenched soil, and the
flowers that will be pushing through the ground in the weeks to come? Rain is
an enjoyable event, not a misfortune.
Six: But the most important thing about
rain? Eventually, it stops. No matter where you are, no matter what the weather
has been like, the rain will always stop. Even in the rainiest conditions, even
when it seems like there’s going to be no end to the down pour, there will come
a time when- even if for just a short while- the rain will cease. The skies
will clear up, the sun will come out, the roads and the grass will dry. There
will be a break in the storm, sometimes just long enough for people to
appreciate the sun again. Sometimes the rain stops for a long time, sometimes
for just a moment, but always the rain will stop. And we will go on about our
lives, eventually behaving as if it had never rained at all, as if that dark
and stormy day had never happened. We will continue on as we did before, but
always knowing in the back of our minds that it did rain, that it might start raining again soon. And we are
grateful that right now, in this moment, we can enjoy the sun shining.
Now, as you might've gathered, these ideas can sometimes apply to more than just a simple rainstorm. Life, love, marriage, family, the list goes on. I am one of those people who loves rain, as long as the 'rain' is not happening in my life. I've had quite a few storms come through in the past weeks and months, and some have been worse than others. Although I am trying to start seeing the beauty of the obstacles in my life, I still have quite a ways to go. Hopefully I'll continue to remember to see the beauty that comes after each storm has passed. After all, there's always a rainbow after the rain, right? I hope this will uplift your spirit as you face your own storms, and I pray that each of us will have our umbrellas ready, so that we can continue to see the beauty that the rain possesses. With Love,
Melanie Motley
Your turn: What life lessons have you learned from everyday items, objects, ideas, events?
James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
