April stormed in with a vengeance. I am not often awakened by thunderstorms, but night before last I was jolted from sleep several times. And early yesterday morning, my cell phone blared out a jarring tornado warning alarm. Storms can be alarming.
Life storms can be even more alarming, suddenly intruding on your peaceful, sunshiny day. I’ve had my share of them and I have learned that when you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. In fact, that’s what a life storm is about, changing your illusion of calm, bursting into your complacency, rearranging your well-ordered life.
That’s also what is so positive about storms. Sometimes, many times, my life really needs rearranging. Sometimes I need to break out of my mundane routine and let myself be blown around a bit by a cleansing wind. Sometimes I need to be shocked out of my complacency, especially when I am taking my calm life for granted.
Strolling through life under blue skies with the sun on our shoulders is quite wonderful. But there’s more in store for us, and it comes when the storm clouds form over us and when the lightening flashes across our sky. That gets our attention. Frederick Douglass aptly described what I call a life jolt.
“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.” (Frederick Douglass)
God of the Sparrow 🌱 By Kathy Manis Findley 