Tuesday, January 29, 2008

coffee and rain

I have to say, coffee and rain might just be my two favorite things. I especially love when I can enjoy them at the same time, and with a good friend. Fabulously enough, I was able to have coffee with my friend this afternoon, an event which was immediately followed by a brief yet refreshing storm.

I've said this before and I will most certainly say it again: I always find God in the rain. The best stress relief for me (in the appropriate season) is just to sit outside in the rain. Literally, I put on crappy clothes and just sit. We have a very convenient place on campus that I call "the Seal"--at the crossing of the two most prominent paths through campus, there sits a medallion in the brick that is the official seal of my university. Anyway, this spot creates the deepest, most wonderful puddle I have ever had the pleasure of sitting in. Obviously I can't plan the rain, but if I am stressed and it rains...oh, it's lovely. For some reason rain just feels like God reaching down to touch me and literally wash all of my cares away. Even when I do not have the supreme pleasure of sitting and/or playing in the rain, it is a passive stress-reliever.

So anyway, it was horribly grey yesterday and I was feeling especially icky emotionally--as evidenced by the Psalms of choice--and I just could NOT get out of it. I only get stuck in these "funks" once in a great while, and since they are rare I have still not really discovered the trick to returning to my cheery self. It was grey all day, inside and out, and I tried EVERYTHING to whip myself out of my misery (which actually began Friday, but I'd rather not discuss now as I've just been released from the prison of my mind) and I couldn't. I prayed, I read, I tried talking about it, not talking about it, playing piano, sleeping, watching something funny on YouTube...nada. Zilch.

I woke up this morning in much the same state. The very last thing I wanted to do was go to class, or do homework, or even fix breakfast. My schedule was full and the to-do list was eternal...

Then it rained. Yup. Rained. In January. It's been exceptionally warm for our area in recent days, which is wondrous and evil all at the same time--now it feels like it should be Spring, but it won't be for another two months or so. As soon as the first drop hit my face I thought, "Yes, God. Refresh me, please!" I mean, okay, it's not like my life was gonna be over or someone died or I was failing a class or anything. I was just a little depressed. But it felt like it was going to go on FOREVER. And then it rained.

But the rain happened AFTER my coffee experience (sorry this is so unorganized...I'm a little cluttered in the head at the moment) which was wonderful! I met with my friend Nancy and we talked about being singers. More specifically, what I should be preparing myself for as a budding professional. She was very helpful, and now I don't feel so icky about that either.

THE POINT--When we feel like crap, God always pulls us through. It may take months or only a few days, and it may take rain, or friends, or a good book, or the right verse, or just someone to tell you to snap out of it, but it does end. "Trust in the Lord..."

Peace

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