Lesson from the pouring rain

Rain.  Relentless rain. Pouring so hard on my roof, I thought it would come through. All night long. Not letting up. Lighting flashed. Thunder rumbled. More rain. Hard rain. Washing away the residue that need not remain. Flooding places that needed to be cleared out. Showing where the blockages were.

Waking up this morning to yet more rain. Rainy Monday morning. Not a good way to start the week with a gloomy rainy morning. But then when I thought about how I came home on Saturday after doing errands and got out of my car to be greeted by the beautiful gift of nature, I remembered why I needed to be grateful for this rain. Everything in my yard looking so lush. So green. So abundant, I felt so blessed. So privileged to live in such a beautiful and abundant place.
I thought about how I stood for a moment taking in the varying shades of green. The shadows cast by the trees. The light pouring through the leaves. And I was in awe. In awe of the sight before my eyes. Filling me with such appreciation for everything that has happened to allow me to stand in the spot I stood on Saturday. Thinking about all the rain that has come this year to allow everything to be so lush, so abundant, so full. Thinking if there is such a place as utopia, I was standing in it.
I was in such awe that I took pictures of the place I live. Took pictures to remind myself of the magic moment I was experiencing. Of the time when the place I take for granted often because I return to it every day made me realise just how fortunate I am. Just how blessed I am to be able to call this place my home. This place where birds sing just about every day. This place where there is greenery that casts shadows and light filters through the canopy of trees that almost look like rainbows  sometimes. This place where I leave and come back to every single day. And I am glad I did take photos to capture that moment because it was that moment that is shifting my thoughts from doom and gloom about the rain that seems to not want to let up to pure gratitude for it being here.
For it is the rain that has allowed my avocado trees to be fully laden. Has allowed my yard to look like the Garden of Eden. Has given me pause to realise that the downpours we get in life are helping us to grow into the people we asked to come here to be. It also allowed me to not fear the thunder storm last night because I knew it had come to help clear the air as do all storms; even our personal storms.
So I am shifting away from thinking about the gloom of the rain this morning to gratitude for its coming. For without the rain I would not have had the magic moment I had on Saturday. The moment where my life stopped me in my tracks and asked me to see, to really see where I am in my journey. To really appreciate this place I call home. To see the beauty I walk past every day for the first time. Sending chills up and down my spine.
Allowing me to know in this moment, for all types of weather, I am truly grateful because it is the changing weather that allows us to appreciate the sun, the abundance and the peace that comes when the rain, wind and storms are done.
Happy Monday everyone. Here's to another week to make the most of all that comes our way because it is where we asked to be so that we can get to where we are going. Remembering sometimes to stop and appreciate from whence we have come to appreciate the place we are standing. Namaste