Sunshine on a Rainy Day

Sometimes we have these moments in life that are so ordinary, yet they stick in your mind. When they happen, you don't know why they spark something in you, but then something will happen and you realize why that moment was committed to your memory.

Yesterday I stopped by the grocery store on a whim on my way home from work. As I was walking across the parking lot, I noticed the sweeping view from the top of the hill it sits on. It's not a scenic landscape worthy of a picture at all, nor is it an inspiring line of skyscrapers. It's a dingy old strip mall full of semi-closed down foreign grocery stores with a highway in the background. But on this day, with the sun beating down, the grass sprouting green, the trees blooming, and the sky blue, I stopped to catch my breath right there in the middle of the crosswalk. Maybe it was because that fleeting moment of sunshine and colorful greenery was the only moment in an otherwise downpour of rain and gray skies that day. Or maybe it was God telling me to stop my day and appreciate the beauty that surrounds me.

As I sit and think about this year, about the deaths, the near deaths, the scary surgeries and hospital stays my family has endured this year, it's hard for me to be hopeful, optimistic, and happy. And when I heard the news this afternoon that my sister lost one of her best friends last night, I couldn't help but be jolted by the memory of that unattractive hillside suddenly becoming so beautiful. Maybe that wa the moment heaven gained an angel. Or maybe it was just a metaphor, meant to remind me that although life may appear dismal at times, the sun on the way will turn it around.

I don't ever talk about God on my blog and I never get deep enough to share depressing news and many blogs are the same way. Of course I want to keep Just Peachy upbeat and encouraging, as I am about 90% of the time. But today my heart is heavy and I just want to be real.

I hope that if you made it all of the way down here, you take one thing away from this post whether you believe in God or not. There is someone or something out there in control of our life. Bad days come and go, life sucks for a moment, but things always get better. And there is beauty in everything.