Things We Can Learn While Walking in the Rain
Learning from the rain calls us to do more than check the weather report.
Are you the sort of person who, when it rains, commiserates with little Johnny who wants to go out and play?
Or are you more like Linus who heads for the nearest puddle with an anticipatory smile of glee?
Does rain…of any sort…dampen your day or awaken your senses with its cool splattering and cleansing rinse?
The first time I remember walking with awareness in the rain I was 19 years old and a sophomore at the University of Maine.
The campus, built around a large tree-lined quadrangle with a Gymnasium at one end and the library at the other, was a perfect place for an evening stroll.
The year – 1966, before Dutch Elm disease, killed all the beautiful elms.
The sun had just released the day to the fullness of the moon and rain fell like paint from a frenzied artist, covering me, the trees, and the buildings all the same color.
I slowed my pace to allow this mystical watercolor to shade my entire being…inside and out—an experience of oneness with the universe I shall never forget.
What Color Are Your Rain Clouds?
We are given opportunities to ‘walk in the rain’ almost every day.
If it isn’t water from rain clouds too heavy to hold it all, it may be a shower of blessing when a baby is born or a goal is reached.
But rain also washes over a broken world like a hurricane —fallout from war, hunger, disease or despair, ‘landing on the just and the unjust’ alike.
We are challenged to see beyond our darkness and the prospect of being overcome by the storms of life.
Rain As Metaphor for Ambition
Looking at rain not just from a practical perspective but also as a metaphor opens the ‘flood gates’ of appreciation for what can be challenging weather.
Rain as a metaphor becomes a guide into our deepest selves.
Sometimes I putz along with writing blog posts and scrubbing dried oatmeal from an old pot.
Other days Ambition rains (or reigns?) as I scramble to check off an infinite number of things on a list as if my life and lives around me depended on every drop of perspiration I work up.
I literally rain sweat on everyone and everything in my path.
Most rain, like ambition, nourishes a thirsty earth. It promotes growth and productivity.
But sometimes rain (or ambition), when unleashed, washes away our dreams.
It floods our present and reshapes our future with fury.
When I apply the metaphor of rain as ambition I see both the positive and the negative of a force that can either create or destroy.
I ask myself “How does unchecked ambition or busyness flood my life and threaten the harvest I have so carefully planned?”
Rain as Unifier and Creator of Community
I remember 1997, the ‘year of the ice storm’ that knocked out power in the middle of winter for weeks.
People understood “we are all in this together” unified by one thing…frozen rain.
Rich or poor, all were without heat, lights, or running water.
Chaos created community as people with power shared their resources with people who had none…in shelters, in stocking food banks, in opening their own wood heated homes.
When It’s Raining Tears
A deluge of tears feels more like a hurricane that whips into our lives with little warning.
When a child dies.
When an accident creates a disability.
When stock markets crash.
Suddenly we are in solidarity with each other, offering hugs and resources to weather the storm.
Crises create community as we find ways to stay safe in the midst of devastating climate changes in our lives.
3 Ways to Weather a Rainstorm
We can’t stop the weather…or the tears… but there are some ways to keep from getting swamped when it rains.
- Preparation. Like most people, I check the weather report first thing in the morning. I am not good at knowing the climate within my own heart. If I were, I might be better prepared for inner ‘quakes’ and or a pending torrent of tears.
- Protective gear…an umbrella, raincoat, a big box of tissues or a shoulder to cry on. These things won’t stop the precipitation but they help to keep us more comfortable until it is over.
Learn to Dance in the rain. When we are caught unprepared sometimes the best thing we can do is learn to dance to the rhythm of the raindrops
It is raining as I type this reflection—a precursor to the snow in the forecast.
Global warming playing with heavenly faucets?
Rain in December in Maine as a weather phenomenon reminds me of global warming and that the earth is infinitely thirsty…in more ways than one.
I wonder if climate change could also warm hearts, causing them to rain down love instead of division. To this question, I offer these words of Rumi.
What does rain provide in your life?
Are you having an extended muddy season from too much of it?
I love hearing your reflections when you comment below.
Thank you
“Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head
with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.”
― Langston Hughes
