Ode to Rain

For those I love most, you know who you are.

My schedule changed again today, no surprise. :)
My life was blessed again today, no surprise. :)
Just after I confessed my overwhelming dislike of being surrounded by water, water poured from the clouds...SURPRISE! :)
Oceans, I don't particularly love, for reasons which need not be elaborated upon, but rain, rain I love.
Rain and I became friends on a typical October afternoon in 2004, when I was 17 years old.
A freshman in college, I returned to my room after classes, and as usual at that time of day, I was alone, my roommate was either at work or in class, so I took the time to do some homework.
My roommate bought me a blue desk lamp, so that I wouldn't have to use the obnoxious overhead lights to study. I flipped it on and began to type rhythmically to the sound of Jeremy Camp in the background, exactly as I am doing right now. :)
I had just finished telling someone that I was so tired of getting soaked by the East Texas rain, and that I would prefer not having to drive the Hot Tamale so frequently in such downpours.
Just as I was brooding about the rain, and humming to Jeremy camp, I heard a sound similar to that made by my fingers...click, click click, went the keys and "tap, tap, tap" went the strange sound, compelling me to stop typing, and silence the music altogether, it was rain.
In the light of that desk lamp, I had a life altering experience. I had just been brooding about the rain, and God began to speak to me. He said "Listen, I know you dislike rain, I know it makes you cold and wet, but it also brings that which is dead to life, and the thunder which often accompanies it brings a picture of my might. When you think of rain in it's ability and capacity to make things alive, and turn them green, perhaps you will no longer be such a sworn enemy of rain. If you look at it like the music you so love, crescendo, drum, drum, drum, you'll begin, I know, to love the rain. And, well, love the rain, I do.
Today as I came out of my afternoon class, it was pouring, and a sweet friend of mine offered her umbrella to keep me from being drenched unmercifully.
As I exited the building I took a deep breath, and as the wind and water drummed against the umbrella, I closed my eyes before beginning my 8 minute journey, and I heard the rhythm, and then, I began, and I pretended I was dancing, dancing, dancing in the rain.

I took a deep and rhythmic breath, and began to sing a song of worship...I wanna sit at your feet, drink from the cup in your hand, lean back against you and breathe, feel your heart beat....
Dancing, dancing, dancing, in the rain. With an umbrella in one hand, and steering the hot tamale with the other, I made it back in the 8 minutes, and waited to have dinner with Athena.

It's funny how sometimes a foe can be turned to a friend in one afternoon, and how something that was once drudgery can quickly become a dance. It's true sometimes that it's all a matter of perspective.
The blue lamp that first loved the rain with me is still on my desk years later, and the roommate who bought it is all too familiar with the girl who hated rain. Fortunately, she is also familiar with the girl who has now chosen to dance in it.

Rejoice, and then do it again,
Courtney