Suddenly the sunlight broke through the clouds and flooded the area with warmth and hope. Birds appeared as if out of nowhere, and way off in the distance, the arc of a rainbow emerged, then slowly disappeared. I returned to the house to help the children prepare breakfast.
A little later in the day, I drove around the neighborhood. Trees were uprooted, power lines cut, and debris scattered all over, but fortunately, no one was injured. Within a few days, most of these unfortunate situations would be corrected. There would be a lot of complaining, and some who had sustained more damage than others would look around and ask, “Why me?” Every time I hear someone say that, I cringe. “Why me, Lord? Why not the other guy? Why did you let me lose my job or my home or whatever?” How selfish we can be at times. Is it less terrible if it happens to someone else but more terrible if it happens to me?
The point,I surmised, is not that things happen to me or to others, but that things happen. It is for us to learn from what is happening and to know that it will not continue forever.Life is a flowing river — a river that’s always changing. All things change and today’s pauper could be tomorrow’s prince,or today’s indifference could be tomorrow’s mourning. Even the weather is an indicator of the constancy of change. Last night and this morning, heavy rains and gale force winds; now, beautiful sunlight and gentle breezes. There will always be changes in the world, but something within me was saying that a part of me — a part of all of us — is changeless and beyond the reach of storms. That part has been with us from time immemorial, and in our quiet moments, if we listen carefully, we can hear it speaking to us.
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