Loving the Rain

Rainy days. So many of us sigh at the thought of a rainy day. We lose our energy, our drive, and our enthusiasm that the sunny, blue sky seems to generate. They represent those dark times when we’re facing a challenge or struggling with one of life’s curveballs. Those times when we want nothing more than to hibernate. But over the years, I’ve come to love rainy days. To me, they’re an opportunity to slow down a bit or to catch up on things. Off the top of my head, I can think of a dozen things I would do and have done to make the most of a rainy day: freshen up my home, read a good book or watch a movie, journal, try a new recipe, call family or friends, listen to great music, sit and think or make plans, exercise, take a nap and the list goes on. Over the winter, I spent a few months in Rwanda. It was the rainy season there. It rained almost everyday. And on so many of those days, a beautiful rainbow would appear to brighten the sky as the sun was coming out. And everything would quickly come back to life.

I was thinking that rainbows are an interface, the doorway between the dark and the light that can lead to life’s riches. If we embrace those dark times, those rainy days, understanding that they too will pass and spend them reflecting, learning, loving, catching up, immersing ourselves in the downpour, cleaning up our messes, grateful for what we have, then we will have accomplished something, learned something and maybe even grown. So then when we look up and see the sky again come alive with color and the sun begin to shine, we will be ready for the gifts that life has to offer.