After the Storm

The rain was pouring down when I left my house this morning. The clouds were dark and thick, with no sun to be found as I made my way into downtown to take my friend out for her birthday breakfast. Other than the fact that I don’t like driving in the rain, I didn’t mind the rain because we don’t get a whole lot of rainy days here in sunny Colorado, and everyone knows that this dry fire-magnet state desperately needs the moisture.

At one point, as my friend and I were gnoshing on some out of this world upside down pineapple pancakes, I looked out the window beside me only to be surprised by the sun shining in on me, surrounded by clear blue skies. By the look of this sky, one would never have known the storms were raging just an hour earlier.

As I was driving home underneath the newly blue sky, the pavement was still wet from the rain and looking particularly dark, a rich contrast to the deep green grass beside it. The blossoming flowers, still showcasing tiny drops of rain on their petals, seemed to be a deeper shade of magenta. The budding trees appeared to be more alive. It was a stunningly beautiful sight to be seen and I felt so lucky to be there to appreciate it. (the picture to the right is from a different day last spring, when the sun emerged even as the rain was ending.)

And that’s when it hit me. I don’t particularly like to be caught in the middle of life’s storms. When I find myself in the midst of a raging storm, I often wonder if and when it will ever end. In my anxst, I find myself wishing for my circumstances to change. I long for the rain to stop and the sun to re-emerge. And when it does, I feel a deep sense of gratitude. Like the trees that look a little brighter and the grass a deeper shade of green, life takes on new meaning, deeper meaning after a storm.

Not that I want to invite storms into my life, but I’m pretty sure that if my life were always sunny, I’d have far less appreciation for the sun when it does shine. If the skies were always blue, I’d never know the beautiful contrast of the wet green grass against that deep blue sky or the pavement donning a darker shade of black, or the contrast of the beautiful deep magenta flowers set against the shiny green budding leaves. So, I guess that’s all to say that in some strange way, I’m thankful for the storms just as I’m thankful for when they come to end, because life somehow seems a little richer after they’ve passed.