After the Rain

Hello loves!

It's been a rainy week here. The weather just can't seem to decide on what it wants. In the same hour it can go from cloudy to blazing hot to a fully fledged thunderstorm to a warm blue sky. That's usual for the spring weather, especially just before the summer months.

I like the rain. Most of the time, anyway.

I love rainy days when I can stay indoors, wrapped in a blanket with my dogs, tea and a book (or whatever show I'm currently binging). Thunderstorms at night are the ultimate white-noise experience for falling asleep. Even a brief mid-afternoon rain that cools down the world and leaves behind a rainbow are enjoyable.

I'm not so much of a fan of rain when I'm on the way to work, stuck in traffic with all the other commuters and questioning how some people got their driver's license. It's not as enjoyable when you've been at a cubicle under fluorescents for hours and you have to see grey skies instead of sunshine.

Love or hate rain, we can all agree it's a powerful force of nature. You always know when it's rained, and there isn't anything you can do to stop it; you can only prepare for it.

Life has rainy seasons, too.

Our hardships and trials---while less cyclical than rain season---are just unavoidable as a spring thunderstorm. Sometimes we can see it coming a mile away, with a slow build of dark clouds and the approaching boom of thunder, and other times we can be having a perfectly pleasant day before suddenly finding ourselves in a downpour.

Much like when rainstorms hit us, we can make a choice to how we'll react to life's hardships.

We can yell and scream at the sky, and complain about how much we hate the weather (knowing that won't make it move on any faster) or we can let the storm run its course while deciding to make the best of it.

You can lock yourself away from the rain in isolation or choose to shelter with close friends and family who will comfort you until it passes. You can stay outside and get angry about something you can't control, or you can accept that the rain ruined your plans and try to adapt.

Life is guaranteed to be hard. It's impossible to go through it without experiencing failures, losses and unfair injuries. And unfortunately, it's very rare that we have control over the speed of these hardships. Much like someone that's drenched after getting caught in the rain, we won't get through it unscathed.

But, there is some good that can happen.

We've all heard the rhyme "April Showers Bring May Flowers." Most can attest that after a week or two of rainstorms, this saying is really true. After the storm has cleared and the water has dried up, the earth comes alive again. Everything is so much greener and fuller after a storm.

And that's what can happen for us. No one likes suffering, but it's a fact of life that we will all face struggles at one point or another. Some can be short bursts that are minor inconveniences, while others can be fully-fledged hurricanes that rip out trees and flood the roads.

It isn't fun in the moment, and sometimes it can feel like the storm will last forever. But once the clouds are gone and the debris is cleaned, the sun will shine down on someone who's full of life and resilience and is able to thrive.

Love y'all!

"Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the Lord have created it."--Isaiah 45:8