The rain falls harder now.
Once just a shower turned stronger.
There is a harmonic beauty in its sound as one million droplets splash to the ground. In unison, tiny soldiers from the sky. The gentle breeze turns colder. A moth flutters in chaos.
The clouds have yet to break for weeks now, though a slice of sky had shown itself last evening, as the sun crept below the horizon. And there was but a flash of yellow light today, forcing weeks’-widened pupils into a hasty retreat.
Have you noticed nature’s quiet during heavy showers?
When heavy rain ensues, bird song falls muted and all signs of life but disappear. If not for the sound of the rain alone, there is quiet. Nature and humans alike both seem to stop, in silence, as if time were standing still. There is nothing but the showers when the rain falls harder. Little else matters but that burst of chaos.
When rain falls harder, our attention is wholly consumed.
But when the rains recede and they always certainly do, we are left in a unique quiet. That chaos, which has consumed our thoughts and attention so strongly, has vanished. And in that moment, both nature and human alike experience unique quiet.
And so similarly, when storms befall our happy minds and content lives, do we feel resigned, consumed by uncontrollable chaos — just as a torrential shower that wholly absorbs our attention. They leave us with nothing else to be pondered. Stormy times we all encounter, moments of challenge and trial, difficulty and discontent. And, at times, when we hope and pray that the storm clouds will break and clear, when we fear that we’ve nothing left to give, does the rain fall even harder.
But as we observe in nature, that when rain falls harder, such an uncontrollable chaos can reap for our minds a subsequent moment of unique quiet: moments of crystal clarity, of peace and quiet, in which the passing storm — the trial or difficulty in our lives — can become better understood.
Were it not for those storms, it would be all the more harder to find — let alone appreciate — those moments of clarity and quiet that allow us to reflect with sincerity and truth on the hardship and struggle that has come to pass. In nature, the moment of unique quiet and crystal clarity is one of sunshine glistening off of rain-soaked leaves, and an emerging, triumphant blue sky that contrasts so sharply against chalky clouds.
Life is certain to bring along times of trial and chaos, just as nature is certain to bring the heavy rains. But they are also certain to pass. As we anticipate a storm’s passing, remember to embrace those moments of unique quiet. Utilize that time of relief and clarity to reflect, though not dwell, upon the passing storm to understand why it came to pass. For when rain falls harder, the unique quiet is certain to follow.
The rain lets up gently now. The moth flies off into the night.