...rain...

It’s a rainy day here at our house.  I am trying to keep my head above water, but sinking again.  The trigger seems to be the chaos of spring baseball season and trying to keep my youngest happy during his brother‘s and sister‘s baseball games (or, if not to keep him happy, at least to avoid major meltdowns).  But, if the trigger were not the busyness of baseball season, it may be something else.  It isn’t going away...so, i learn to live with it.  Is it possible to embrace it?

I love a rainy day in spring.  This world of cool green mist is probably one of my favorite parts of spring.  I love to hear the rain; I love to see it against the leaves and grass; I love looking through the drops to the tops of the trees in the woods behind the house.  For lack of a description that does it justice, suffice it to say it is nothing short of a glimpse into fairyland.

Without rain, there would be no growth.  The green would give way to parched barren brown.  There would be little shade.  A tall tree needs deep roots.  Could the same be true for a soul?

Back when I was a kid, one of my favorite songs was Keith Whitley’s “I’m No Stranger to the Rain.”  At the time, I didn’t know the story behind the song--the story of the man who fought his own demons throughout his life and died of an alcohol overdose in 1989.  I just knew it was a beautiful song; and even back then, the sadness in the song, and in the voice that sang it, struck a chord with me.

I'm No Stranger to the Rain--Keith Whitley

There is depth and beauty in rain itself--in the rain outside, and the rain that falls “in the soul.” And if it were not for the rain, much depth and beauty in the world would be lost.

So, how now shall we live?  For those of us who are not strangers to the rain--what can we do but beg, steal or borrow a little sunshine?  And learn to embrace the rain?