A Threat or a Joy?

The sweetness of the storm.

I turn on the TV and see the news forewarning of the arrival of the storm.

A storm with the power to destroy, one fierce and wild, whipping branches like a little boy’s toys.

A storm whose thunder screams and lightning blinds, whose droplets fall like a skydiver with a fury that can’t be defined

A storm that could wreak havoc and leave things in ruins, yet a storm that’s so powerful that while pondering it something inside me begins to move.

This storm, it may be intense and angry, but without it, where would we be?

Our parched land cries out for a drink -that this stagnancy will end, yearning for its cracking surface to be softened, longing to be able to produce life once again.

Under the suns warm glow it’s comfortable, no need to fear, no worry about what’s to come, oh, how kind indeed is that sun.

Yet there is cause for worry.

A land fed only by sun and lacking water quickly becomes a wasteland, a land wanting of green and life and the presence a deep system of roots.

So as we prepare for the coming of this storm, the torrent that threatens to rip and tear through our land, some may run for shelter, doing anything to pretend it isn’t there.

But I rejoice.

I rejoice in the life that this storm will bring.

I rejoice in the painful awakening. The vulnerability, the fragility. This joyful occasion.

I rejoice because I don’t see an enemy in the storm. No, I see a deep love for me that sees and knows my needs and wishes the best for me, providing opportunity for growth. For deepening.

I see the softening of this hard heart, the melting of the outer shell, the revealing of a skeleton so that it can be fleshed out once again. So that it can be given substance, a real self, one fed by both fire and water, by sun and storm. A wanderer, no longer forlorn, who continues on the path to her true self.

So while some are terrified, some become angry, some run and hide-

I rejoice in the storm, and the sweetness and opportunity that stand right by his side.