The power and beauty in storms.

Project 365 * 4
Day 498

~For my mom. A woman who has been riding out storms her entire life.~

     Here's the scene: I was driving home from my parent's house. Adelyn and Casey were sleeping. Tobin was at Patty's house. The sky was dark and getting darker. There was no music. No noise. Just the sound of the engine humming. The clouds were amazing and menacing at the same time. Having always been afraid of storms, it's hard for me to see them as just amazing. I always get the feeling that something sinister is lurking within them. Usually when I'm driving, I feel big on the road. I drive an Excursion, after all. I'm the biggest thing on the road besides tractor-trailers. But tonight...the sky was so big and so powerful, and the storm was so threatening, I felt incredibly small. Like an ant driving down the road.

     As we were nearing home, and I could see our mountain from 66, I was sick that I didn't have my camera with me. The clouds from the storm were everywhere. All around. Dark, dark clouds. Except by our mountain. Near the top, there was a huge break in the clouds. An electric orange light was glowing from the sun going down. The combination of the orange glow and the dark clouds was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in the sky. I couldn't stop staring. I was sad when my exit came.

     I was reminded tonight witnessing the power and the beauty of the storm, that the same is true of storms within our lives. Storms come. They make us feel small and helpless. We wonder if there is something sinister lurking. We fear. We doubt. We lose faith, even. But there is also power in the storm. The storm gives us fuel. Fuel to make changes. Fuel to write. Fuel to be better than you've ever been before. It gives us the fuel to love more deeply. To live life more fully. It gives us perspective. The sheer power of the storm gives us the power we need to make it through. The stronger the storm, the stronger we are on the other side.

     Storms come. They amaze us with bright lights, 500 shades of blue and gray, incredible clouds, and sometimes, even an electric orange glow above mountain tops. They really are quite beautiful. You just have to change the way you look at them. In life, when storms come, our first instinct is to hate them. To hate the storm itself. To hate everything about the storm. But there is beauty there. Just waiting to be found. Maybe just around the corner, there is a mountain top with glowing orange clouds above it. Maybe there are rainbows waiting. Maybe flowers will bloom because of it. Maybe there is power in the beauty of the storm.

     Thankful for storms. Storms in the sky, and storms in my life. I wouldn't be the person I am today without them. Thankful they have something to teach me. Thankful for my mom. She taught me from a very young age that storms were beautiful. I'm just sorry I didn't believe her until now.