Dance in the rain...

Sometimes it rains, ya know? Sometimes it, well, pours too. You know what I am talking about, that feeling of getting overwhelmed, in over our heads, in too deep. During the storms, when the rain is falling fast, when the rain drops of life all compete for our attention. Usually this storm only grows and intensifies throughout life. Sometimes we walk through it, sometimes we run, sometimes we try and drown it out... sometimes we hide, avoiding it, but rarely addressing it. We get into such a rush sometime that we forget to slow down and take time in the little things. Think about it, when did we stop smelling the roses or the smell of a recent rain, lying in the grass, feeling the wind tug at your hair, listening to the birds sing, being with a good friend, taking a walk with someone you love? When did we trade those precious moments for the smells of the highway asphalt, the sounds of work, the impatience of time, the demands of school, and the crunch of traffic jams? Just think for a moment, we are so crazed about time. We are always rushing, rushing through high school, rushing through college, rushing to get married, rushing to get a job, rushing, rushing... rushing. We are in such a hurry that we no longer stop to admire the little things that are not in such a rush. We are in a hurry that we fail to see that we are rushing towards death, with nothing but a rush to reflect on. Now while all these things are not bad, we have turned them into an obsession. We are in such a hurry everything that we fail to enjoy anything, living life as a destination, not a road trip. We are so focused on our goals that we only see the road, none of the mountains, or rivers, or meadows, or forests. And after we get so focused and build up all this momentum, if we do happen to stop for even a moment, we cannot enjoy it; if we do stop it seems as if we are accomplishing nothing, wasting time. We are dads, we are moms, but not always a "daddy" or a "mommy". We are acquaintances, but rarely a best friend. We have all of the formalities but none of the actualities, thriving on the superficialness of what we have, having lived it so long that we don't realize the real thing were it to hit us on the head. We live at work, knowing that we must go home sometime to a family we might not really know. We speed on the highway, knowing that nothing gets done as we sit there driving. We hide from everything, not realizing that it will only leave us with nothing... But sometimes, its those moments of doing nothing that we experience everything. We slow down enough for our senses to pick up on the little things. We see the flowers blooming, captivated by the allure of their beauty, drawn in by the simple grandeur they were created with. We feel a lovers embrace, sensing each others hearts throb, keeping beat with a song without human words. We taste the colors of the seasons, vicariously enjoying each with their unique scents, left wanting for more taste of such perfection. We hear that someone whisper "I love you...", so soft and filled with emotion, so loud that it drowns out the pains of each day. We smell the aromas each day offers, the dew of the morning, the damp of the rain. When we take the focus off of time, ourselves, we then stop and realize all that we have. Sometimes we see the rain though. All that we run from, all the things we keep moving away from, all the problems that we don't want to address, all the hurts that we have. You see, its kinda paradoxical: We can rush and avoid our problems, keep them behind us... but if we do that we will never enjoy life... never. Or we can stop and see everything, both our problems and all the small things of life, which in the end are not as small as we make them to be. We either face everything or nothing for a time, but eventually it will be there, and the question will remain to be asked: While you will have to face everything, what will remain that will bring you a smile? Folks, we need to just stop sometimes; stop and enjoy the sun, stop and weather the rain.

Sometimes it rains, and sometimes it pours... and sometimes we just got'to dance in the rain...