Rains

In the gray morning light, the sound of the drain by the apartment was overwhelming.  Initially, I thought something was flooding in the building.  In my fear, I looked for the evidence before even realizing my actions.  As my eyes swept the dry polished floor, I realized there was something else going on.  My eyes lifted to discover sheets of rain sweeping by the window.  The storm was in full swing, if only for a brief moment in time.
 
An hour later, the skies brightened and the dawn resumed it relentless birth.  The contrast was, is, stark!  I could not imagine that so much would be different in the blink of an eye.  I did not anticipate how much hope I would and do find with the realization of a new dawn.  My fears walked away without a sound.  It was as if the storm never was.
 
I wish I could relate to life as easily as this.  Candidly, I do not.  I remember yesterday’s failures.  I travel with old doubts.  Even uncertainty hangs around like a familiar friend.  I forget that time is like the wind; everything is new in the moment to come.  Nothing remains from the past except what you and I bring from it.  Our baggage shapes the present, but it need not have the influence it has.  We can wash our lives, relationships, and even our self and find clean starts in the process. 
 
The key to the rains and life lie in our first steps.  First, remember that we often forget; “You've forgotten me, God, who made you, who unfurled the skies, who founded the earth.  And here you are, quaking like an aspen before the tantrums of a tyrant who thinks he can kick down the world.  But what will come of the tantrums?”  (Isaiah 51.13) 
 
Second, in the storms and uncertainties of life, always move forward from the foundations you trust.  God, Hope, and engaged Compassion do not need to be strangers.  They make the difference, in your life and mine; in the rains and everything that follows.