Rainbows and Stars

"When it rains, look for rainbows. When it's dark, look for stars"

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So I know that life isn't always sunshine and roses. She doesn't always say kind words and do good deeds to us. Sometimes, she hands us lemons. And sometimes those lemons are too rotten to make lemonade. What do we do then?

I'm not some pie-in-the-sky, always smiling and happy kind of person. I'm passionate, yes, but I feel the gauntlet of emotions, powerfully. Some days the sun is shining, and some days the clouds are fiercely rolling through my sky. But, despite the way I feel, despite my circumstances, I know that the storm will pass, and maybe, just maybe, there will be a rainbow gleaming brightly in that darkened sky.

It happened just that way while I was living in Belize. The mango tree in this photo is one of the tallest on the property. It reaches high in the sky. And that storm, like my pensive self that day, loomed low and rumbly. The sky opened up and let us have it - a good, old fashioned thunderstorm in all its glory.

I was used to this type of weather, because I grew up in the Midwest. But here, in this part of Central, thunderstorms aren't so normal. Yes, they have rain and storms, but usually tropical depressions with mostly rain and wind, not the high level of thunder and lightning that this storm produced that day.

Inside myself I was doubting my decision to stay in this beautiful nation. It had gotten hard, and lonely, and I was unclear of my mission. I knew in my heart I could get through the hard stuff and the lack of clarity, but I just needed a sign that I had made the correct decision. I just needed something.

Then this storm blew in from seemingly nowhere. And I knew to hold on for the ride. My experience told me that there would be a rainbow-my sign. So I waited. And my patience was rewarded with a huge arc of color in the sky. And a few mangoes to go along with it, as the wind had knocked a few ripened ones down during the storm.

Sometimes we have to wait out the storms of life as well, looking for the clues that the sign is coming. Reading the situations, lining up the circumstances, pulling from past experiences, holding on for the rainbow at the end of the storm. Sometimes, just sometimes, when life hands us lemons, we need to toss them and let the storm shake the mango tree. We need to hold on, and look up, wait for the rainbow at the end of the storm.

Photo taken with iPhone 4, April 2013, Belize.
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