Centre County was under a tornado watch until 10 tonight. Our worship team was safely tucked away in the worship room at Calvary, praising the God who tells the lightning and thunder where to go! We had no idea what the weather was doing.
Apparently the Lord waited until we were done singing to send the rain. As we walked out of the building, the rain started to fall, and the lightning danced in the sky. I’m home now, and the storm is right on top of us. A bolt of electricity just struck somewhere in our neighborhood. There was an immediate BOOM that shook the house. It was so loud that Kim and Levi woke up, and the dog isn’t liking this at all. Levi said that he thought that the world was ending!
I’ve written before about my love for rain. While others may complain about the amount of rainfall that we see here, I LOVE it! Rain makes the creeks rise, which means we get to paddle some creeks that aren’t normally runnable. And while my yard grows at a pace that I can barely keep up with, I love the way everything looks when it’s lush and green. Our local paper says that rain has fallen in the State College area on 41 of the past 53 days. The total rainfall for the spring, through Monday, was 15.65 inches, six inches above normal. If this keeps up, we’ll hit the record of 17.66 inches of rain in the month of May.
When Kim and I were in college, my buddy Phil taught us how to properly enjoy a good soaking. We’d put on our boots and leave the umbrellas behind, splashing our way across campus. We’d be wet to the bone, but laughing and singing like it was the best day ever.
I think our attitude makes or breaks us. One of the things that I’ve been learning–and praying about–is JOY! I want to be quick with a laugh, to face the day with a genuine smile. When my attitude is good, the day goes better.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem entitled The Rainy Day, and the last stanza reads like this:
Be still, sad heart, and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.
Those aren’t very cheery words, but that’s the truth. There will be some rainy days, some seasons that are difficult. No one escapes it; no one is exempt. But if I can learn to face those rainy days with joy, with hope, with vital optimism, then the dark and dreary aren’t as powerful.
How do you face your dark and dreary days?
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