It is interesting to me how a single event can change how we look at our world.  Sometimes one small change can overshadow all the good that is in our lives… if we allow it. I am not a person who adjusts easily to change.  I get attached… to people, to routines, to the comfort of the familiar.  And I fear what is to come next.  I always wonder… Am I strong enough to move forward into this new season and adapt to the changes that come?  But then I ask myself… Am I truly this fragile? And I make myself stop and remember how hard I have worked to get to where I am…

Like an artist, carefully choosing the colours for their painting, or like a builder who constructs a wall brick-by-brick, filling in the cracks as they go along, day by day I have carefully designed a “self” that is strong and resilient.  It is not luck, or chance, or perfect circumstances that have brought me this far.  I work hard to be strong and courageous amidst the storms of life.  And I know that it is normal to feel sadness and loss.  Without these things, we cannot appreciate joy and happiness.  No matter how keenly we feel it in the moment, eventually the pain will pass.  So instead of worrying… instead of fearing the future… I choose to dance in the rain.

Until the Sun Comes out Again

By Krista Longeway

How is it
that one event can change the course of our lives?
How is it
that a sunny day can so quickly turn to clouds and darkness?
One event…
same life, same place, same day
yet suddenly all is overshadowed 
and the hope and strength that we felt so deeply
is replaced by darkness?
How can we be so fragile?
Yet the everchanging weather of our existence
can shift from sun to clouds and back again
in the blink of an eye.
So here we are, gasping for breath,
desperately reaching out for something to hold onto.
But then…
I stop fighting the darkness.
This is what it is to be human.
This is what it is to feel hurt and sadness.
It’s okay for me to feel pain in this season.
For I know that life will shift again
and the sun will come up
just as brilliantly as before
and I will find hope, and love, and kindness in the world.
I am strong and courageous.
I will dance in the rain until the sun comes out again.