I choose to be the rain...

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This afternoon I watched as a thunderstorm rolled in.  The wind rustling through the bushes, the lightning crashing far off, the low rumble of thunder, and the anticipation of and hope for rain to come with it to quench the insatiable thirst of this drought-ravaged land.  As I watched the storm come closer I thought about how this wonder of nature has the power both to destroy and to give life.  The high winds and crashes of lightning on a dry land could easily spark and create a catastrophic fire which could consume everything in its wake.  On the other hand, the rain could fall and fill the dry riverbeds, bringing back the grass that has too long been gone to feed the animals that have too long gone hungry.  I am like the storm.  I can allow hate to spark a fire in my heart, eventually consuming all that was once good within me and destroying everything I come in contact with.  Or I can choose to love, and be the rain that the world needs so badly. 

Darkness can’t drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate can’t drive out hate; only love can do that. (Martin Luther King Jr.)

Hate is the easy choice.  Love requires a daily choice to relinquish my pride, to suffer fools, to repay cruelty with kindness, to look for the best in others, to count to 10 before reacting, to take the high road when insults are being hurled my way, and to keep hope alive when all seems lost.  This requires a conscious decision every moment of every day to find the positive points in a negative world, to fight every instinct I have when I feel that I have been wronged in some way (and let me tell you, that redhead temper is no easy thing to control!).  To choose to love in a world filled with hate means that I will be ridiculed, I will be hurt, I will be lonely, and that my heart will be broken over and over again. 

I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples. (Mother Teresa)

Right now many things in the world look bleak.  So many people are in despair; and with good reason.  My heart breaks for all of the hurt and anguish I see in front of me, both at home and abroad.  I wish there were a secret answer or a magic formula to cure all of the issues in the world, but unfortunately I can only control the small part I play.  I choose to be the rain; I choose to love, because I can’t be more kindling for the fire that hate has ignited.