Stormy Weather

When it rains it tends to pour, here in the Intermountain West. That’s definitely the case tonight, as I write this. Thunderous crashings are competing with the gurgling sounds of my gutters overflowing and the pitter patter on the spontaneous pond forming in the low part of my back yard. The air is heavy with moisture and I feel it on my skin as the herby scent of wet grass and sage seeps through the cracked window.

But we needed this rain to clear the air, to awe us and make us pause, so I’m counting my blessings that I am where I am tonight, and isn’t that like the writing life sometimes?

Whether it’s two deadlines to meet in the next few weeks, or an advertising campaign (or blog post!) you’ve committed to, the newsletter to get out or event to plan, the four editing projects you promised clients you’d complete by fall, or the story that’s been nagging you to begin it, but there’s no time.

It never rains but it pours, and you can hear the thunder coming, see the clouds forming.

I’m not here to give you a map to navigate these rough waters. We’ve done that in previous posts, and we’ll do our best in future ones.

But right now?

Breathe.

Recent studies have shown that stressful circumstances aren’t necessarily unhealthy. What those who study such things are coming to understand is that it’s our perspective on those circumstances that can make all the difference.

So, here’s some perspective for you:

“He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; Who makes lightnings for the rain, Who brings forth the wind from His treasuries.”

“Yet, He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with gladness.”

“And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.“

“For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God…”

Pause and take this storm in. Feel the rain against your skin and the power in the wind. Plant your feet and find your balance. Count your blessings, that you get to experience this storm. For God’s children, storms may buffet us for a night, but joy comes in the morning. God says storms, in the end, are about hope, they are good things, growing things, productive things, refreshing things.

Pause, for just a bit, and…

Look! I am going to do something new. It is already happening. Can’t you see it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert…

Beliefs represented by individual authors are not necessarily shared by all members of ICW.