Storms

Storms                            7-9-2017

By John W. Vander Velden

 

For each must face storms, and it is then they reveal their true selves.

 

“Life is not just a bowl of cherries.”  Providing you like cherries in the first place.  OK, what’s not to like about cherries? But the point of the quote, we have heard hundreds of times is, things do not always go the way we would like.  For each must face storms.

Finding my large barn door in the neighbor’s, field reminded me of other times and other storms.  Yes, there were several weather conditions that have shook my life to one degree or another, but they were not the only storms I have faced.  It’s life.  My world, like anyone’s, has endured storms.  Meteorological, physical, emotional, and all other traumatic times which are part of living.  There are times when I would have wished to escape the difficulties thrust into my life, but I caught my breath and did what needed to be done.  Sometimes just pushing through it, I have found myself so engaged I really didn’t think about the storm’s aftermath until later.

But there are storms that haunt me to this day.  Their memory lurks in the recess of my mind, jumping out from their hiding at inopportune moments.  Those times I remind myself that everyone faces those types of storms…it helps knowing that I am a survivor, as are you.  Storms sometimes leave scars.  But not all those marks are visible.

It is how we deal with the storms we face that show the material from which we are made.  Do we stand and whine, or roll up our sleeves and deal with the aftermath.  There are times when fatigue and frustration stand in my way of cleaning up yet another mess.  But I take a moment…or a day perhaps…to gather my breath so I can charge forward once again.

Each storm takes a little out of me.  But the effort demanded to “deal with it” adds something I did not have before.  Life is filled with storms…no two the same.  Storms provide the nexus to part of my growth as a man. 

I have endured another storm, and know that it will not be the last.  I will take the safeguards I can to minimize the damage that will occur, knowing full well I can not prevent it all.  As for today, I will tend to the cleanup and repair of last week’s wind.  I will give my best…and that will be enough.  Perhaps, just perhaps, I will be strong enough, when I face my next storm.