"The Best Day Ever"

   When I woke up recently one morning at the beach, the rain was coming down in sheets outside my door.  It was thundering and lightning and looked like it would be a literal wash out.  I refreshed the weather app no less than 50 times to see when the rain would pass.  By 10, we were all ready to go out and the rain had slackened to just a nice steady rain.

   My youngest daughter and I ventured out first.  Just as we crossed over into the sand, the rain picked up to a downpour and we got under one of the shelters nearby.  She became afraid and wanted to turn around.  However, we stayed and waited.  The rain slowed again and we began to walk along the water's edge.  The water washed up shell after shell, and my youngest began skipping down the water's edge picking them up.  At one point, she shouted, "This is the BEST day ever!"  When my oldest joined us with her dad (and umbrellas), she was amazed at the number of shells she could find.  She noted that they had to have been pushed up to the beach by the storm and the fact that there was no one else on the beach as we walked.  She felt as though she had first dibs.

   When I saw the rain that morning, I braced myself for a day of games and staying inside.  When it became clear that we could go onto the beach in the rain, I thought it would be tolerable at best.  However, what I thought would be just ok became memorable through the eyes of my daughters.  What I thought would be just ok was better than ok because we decided to venture out into the rain.

    This is life, isn't it?  Sometimes, we become so afraid of what could go wrong that we miss all of the really wonderful things that are happening around us.  Sometimes, the rain clouds hover so that we don't recognize the "best" things that are happening to us.  Sometimes, we forget the promise, "for I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and to not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11) because we only see the things that are hard happening to us.  Sometimes, the best plans just don't unfold quite the way we envisioned them; but when we wait through them, we find "better than expected" before us.  Sometimes, in the midst of the "worst days ever," we can find those moments that are truly the "best."  Sometimes, even, it takes the storm to realize "the best."

     Perhaps, the storms show us to value what we have a little more.  Perhaps, the storms help us appreciate the really good times.  Or, perhaps the storms center us in this world that is full of storms.  May we be willing to find the best in spite of ourselves!