The Cleansing Rain Storm

This summer, I had some concrete resealing done around my house. I have a couple patios, and some walkways that had never been cleaned and resealed since they were put in 10 years ago.

My entry walkway is pressed concrete, that is made to look like dark gray slate. When it is sealed it is shiny and gorgeous!

After all the work was done, I was really enjoying the look of the freshly sealed pressed concrete in front of my house.

Something interesting happened right after this work was finished.

Every couple days, it seemed like I, or one of the people who works around my house, needed to do some activity that required walking all over that front walkway with muddy shoes!

I am not a super neat freak or anything, but I didn't want my newly sealed, shiny walkway covered with muddy footprints. So, each time it got dirty, I would bring out the hose and wash off the walkway.

It was amazing to me, however, how frequently they were getting dirty! I'd never had this experience before!

The last time the walkway got dirty was when my sprinkler service company came to winterize my sprinklers. They had to walk all over the yard and in doing so, they traversed my clean walkway several times. Of course they left dirty, grimy footprints all over it!

Sigh.

I was planning on hauling out the hose to clean it up... again, but the weather turned very cold. It had been raining some, but it didn't seem to be taking care of the muddy footprints. I just couldn't seem to get myself to go out in the cold weather and spray off this walkway.

Then it happened.

A rain storm, the likes of which I haven't seen in a long, long time descended on my area. I mean it was CRAZY rain. The rain fell hard and furious. It was actually a little scary at times.

But guess what?

The walkway in front of my house is completely clean! All the muddy footprints were completely washed way! The rain storm took care of it for me.

It was a great reminder to me that the storms of life are sometimes useful to us. Sometimes that pounding rain can cleanse something from our lives that has been a source of struggle or pain. Life storms can sometimes pull forth from us skills and inner strength we didn't even know we had. Other times, the storms in life can alter our course and send us off in a new direction.

This particular storm was 'cleansing.' It washed away some stuff I didn't want or need anymore. I've had 'life storms' that have done the same thing, although it isn't always obvious DURING the storm. We often can't see the benefit until after the storm has passed, the skies have cleared and the pavement has dried.

Look for the blessing and the gift in the storms of life. There usually is one lurking there, if we have the patience and the willingness to see it.