Then I'm gonna wait right here

While taking a stroll yesterday, Sarah was looking up at the big dark rain clouds overhead and asked, "Miss Kristy, what will we do if it starts to rain on us." I said, "I guess we'll just have to take off our shoes and dance in the rain." Surprised by my response she smiled and said, "Then I'm gonna wait right here!" After a few minutes she followed it up with, "I wish it would really do that, dancing in the rain would be fun!"

I wonder why we're so afraid of the rain sometimes. At the Jason Mraz concert during the opening act when the Heaven's opened above us and rain pelted every fiber of our clothing, Mr. Opening Act said, "Come on people, it's just rain. It makes things grow." Quickly they changed up their set list and began to sing an African song about the rain falling while the people started to dance around us.

The sunshine is beautiful but the rain is more freeing.

I love to watch the rain. I love the sound of the rain. I love what the rain teaches us. I love that (to steal a quote from Bruce Almighty) no matter how dirty something gets you can always clean it right up.

I've embraced a thought again, a mantra if you will, that God is preparing me for something. Seeing the rain in my life as preparation for something bigger makes me embrace those showers and see them as opportunities to be content whatever the circumstance. I like this new thought, as it forces me to not be anxious and driven to get to the next stage of my life.

One Christmas, Stephanie and Tilden gave us a frame with a blessing painted around it. It's big enough that when I lie in bed I can still read the words. When I can't get to sleep, I'll read these words over and over again and fall asleep reciting a blessing on my life:

May the sun bring you new energy by day
May the moon softly restore you by night
May the rain wash away your worries
May the breeze blow new strength into your being
May you walk gently through the world and know it's beauty
all the days of your life.

Amen.