I only attended summer camp once growing up. I must have been about 7 years old when I packed up my things and headed to Camp Cherokee for a week in July. I sang the songs, went on the hikes, laughed at the cookouts, and while I'm sure I have plenty of fond memories of my only ever week at summer camp, there is one that sticks with me to this day.
A tornado came. We had to evacuate our cabins, and I still remember the fear that filled the room, as we sat huddled in the night with rain and thunder pounding on the building we had fled to.
I don't know the exact words the camp counselor said to me, but I know that they have carried me through every storm since this one. She told me that there was nothing to be afraid of; and, since it was a Christian camp, she told me a story of how the thunder was Jesus playing the drums, and the lightning only an accessory to his grand parade.
Since that night all those years ago, I have found myself to be nearly fearless of the weather.
If awoken by a storm in the night, I allow the rain to softly lull me back to sleep, knowing that the thunder is not something to fear, but simply a part of nature, one that I have even grown to be fond of.
So, yesterday as I pulled off of Milledge Avenue and onto Highway 316, beginning the familiar drive from Athens to my hometown of Woodstock, Georgia, I felt a smile grow on my face as the clouds turned grey and gusts of wind blew through my open car windows.
What did I have to worry about? Hadn't I learned to dance in the rain?
I left my windows down--allowed the wind to swirl through my hair and the rain fall on my skin, feeling happy that I had learned to find joy in something that so many feared.
As I continued down the road, it hit me. This was the most obvious metaphor ever.
What else is life, if not learning to dance in the rain?
Nobody ever said life was going to be easy, and they certainly didn't say it was going to be fair. Hardships will come, and they will pass, and I've learned that no amount of planning, hoping, or praying will make the hard times stay away.
So, when life brings the storms, you have a choice to make. It's the same choice you make every morning when you wake up and look yourself in the mirror.
You can lay down, you can quit. You can yell and scream and curse the sky for its relentless downpours. You can let the storms make you bitter. You can hide under a cheap umbrella with a hole in it that you found in your neighbor's yard.
Or, you can dance.
You can sing. You can skip and yell and swing around until you can't see straight. You can fight the good fight. You can embrace the rain, and know that sunny skies are on the way, even if this is the seventh storm this month and you can't even remember what the sky looks like when it isn't grey.
You can laugh. You can love. You can become a better person. You can build bridges and move mountains. You can find joy. You can find peace.
And you can do it in the rain.
