Beauty in the Storms

Many people don’t like storms, but even in storms we can find beauty. I probably shouldn’t have ridden today, or at least for as long as I did, but if I hadn’t I would have missed this beauty as well as some wonderful insights on life.

Is she not absolutely beautiful? ❤

I had checked the radar before I headed out and I thought it looked like I had a couple of hours before the rain started. I stopped for gas shortly after heading out and all looked good still. As I headed down a favorite route, suddenly the skies were looking very dark the direction I was traveling towards so I turned and rode away from the darkness. Again the skies were now looking good. A short time later, I took another turn and soon I again saw dark gloomy clouds. I changed direction one more time and saw blue skies ahead.

As I was cruising along a side street, I saw a deer in the yard ahead. At first it looked like a statue, it was standing so straight and still that I decided it was probably just a yard decoration. As I approached, I soon realized she was indeed real. I was able to pull over and park my bike in order to take a closer look as she remained in the same location. She was very inquisitive and watched me closely, but only moved her head to watch. As cars passed by, she paid them no attention whatsoever. From the picture above, you can see she allowed me to get pretty close to take her picture. She didn’t appear to feel at all threatened by my presence. We watched each other for several minutes then she snorted, turned away, and leaped through the grass gracefully to the nearby woods. I got back on my bike and realized there were again dark clouds on the horizon, despite the sun that was obviously still out as I just took that picture. This called for yet another change in direction.

I felt like I was in one of those arcade games where you have to try to get an object safely between other objects that are trying to capture it or at least hit it, in order to get it back home. I hoped I was going to make it home without getting wet, but that was not the case. Just as it started to drizzle, I was near a gas station that has a covered area so I pulled under it while I was still dry and hoped for the best. I watched the radar for a bit and as soon as it looked like there was an opening I headed for home. I ended up in a slight shower but I’ve definitely been caught in worse storms. At least this one was simply rain, no thunder and lightning or wind. As it turns out my hubby and I had gone just yesterday and gotten me some new boots for riding, so I had great treads to assist with safe stopping and no worries of my feet slipping on the brake pedal or the road.

As I continued to turn away from darkness in the skies today, I realized that’s what we also need to do in our daily lives. Our lives can go through dark phases; storms, but even in those times we can find beauty if we look for it. We need to turn from the darkness of the world we live in and turn towards the light of Jesus. Ever since the beginning of time, siblings, friends, families and entire countries have been “at war” with each other. What we are seeing isn’t anything new, it just seems to be more widespread and thank to the media, it becomes glamorized and widely publicized now. We can blame each other, the divorce rate, our parents, and any other number of untold reasons. In my opinion it’s simply that we’re human, we become complacent and tolerant, and we turn away from God far too often to focus on other things, selfishly.

Have you ever just had a bad day and out of the blue something beautiful happened to make it better? Do you think it’s just a coincidence when this happens? I don’t believe in coincidences. Not long ago I had a day like that and I heard from 3 women that I’m close to, who do not communicate with each other and had no idea I was having that kind of day as I hadn’t discussed it with anyone or been in touch with any of them. I received a very special message from one that I had been “heavy on (her) mind” and it included a picture that I love, another sent a silly picture that made me laugh, and another a beautiful version of a favorite hymn. I received them all within a 3 hour time period. There was light and beauty in the darkness and storm I’d been feeling and the darkness soon disappeared.

As a popular saying goes, it’s not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain! Today my bike and I danced in the rain. There are just some things that you can only learn as the result of a storm.