Nobody wants to wake up on the last day of vacation and see dark storm clouds rolling in. I mean, it’s the very last day to enjoy everything. I had the morning all mapped out for how I was going to spend my last hours on the beach. Change of plans! I was disappointed at first but I chose to embrace what was good about it.
My college roommate was on vacation with us and she came over to my room while I was still in pajamas and we had that wonderful feeling of being roommates again in the first hour of the morning. Then I joined her and her husband for breakfast since they were leaving earlier than us, rather than the quick breakfast I had planned at the restaurant by the beach so I could get to the ocean quicker.
I didn’t have to spend twenty minutes covering every inch of my body with sunscreen, a dreaded but necessary task for me multiples times a day with my fair skin. When the rain stopped, I was able to take a wonderful last walk on the beach spontaneously with no worries about sunburn.
Another gift was being able to witness one of my favorite nature scenes while at the beach. I love to see a wall of rain over the ocean. The horizon line is blurred and for me it’s the merging of heaven and earth. Truly mesmerizing, I could stay lost in the magic and mystery of it endlessly.
Recently I created a painting which ended up looking like a wall of rain over the ocean as a result of a few happy accidents. (Image below.) I didn’t set out to paint that but I guess it wanted to be painted. Perhaps it was a gift of my creator to me, much like today’s storm gave me the privilege of seeing it again in person. It wasn’t what I had planned for the last day of vacation but it was a cherished surprise.
Are you in the midst of a storm? I’m sure it wasn’t what you intended but can you look around and find the gifts that could not have come any other way? If the storm is here, we might as well try to see what’s good about it. I hope you look for the abundant provision and the gifts today, regardless of the season of life you’re in.
