When I was a boy and something bad would happen my mother would say to me, “into every life a little rain must fall”. Now, living in Vancouver I would have to say that I have become very acquainted with rain. What my mother did not include, so I think I will, is
, “and into every life the sun will shine”.
And by “shine” I mean be a beacon of support, radiate love, explode with exhilaration and generally illuminate the way to our enlightened future. You see in reality my mother was very correct, a “little rain” must fall. If we did not have the negative how would we ever understand and fully enjoy the positive. Without the dreary, dark, cloudy day how would we know how to laugh, dance and sing when the sun comes out? And that brings me to Sunday.
Being raised in the christian faith I was taught Sunday was more of a sombre day. It was a day of quiet, of reflection, of contemplation of our place in the universe and in God’s dominion. It was worship with a dose of worry thrown in. While this was acceptable, I had a loving family who raised me to have the best chance of success in life so I generally did what was expected, it was not all that inspiring. I mean I was really looking for a celebration of life and a sombre Sunday was not necessarily my first choice when I was a child and for that matter still is not. Funny how life goes, now a sombre Sunday is exactly what I want as I enter my golden years.
The wonderful thing about this thing called Life is that my golden years means that I understand how “sombre” can actually be sunshine depending on the situation. Life is lived from the inside out and given half a chance my inner radiance will illuminate my world.
My work is fairly rigorous and my personality and values drive me to achieve the most I can. By the time Sunday comes around I really want to sit in quiet contemplation, to listen to either Jazz or Classical music. I like to sit at a café for an hour or two and watch the world go by as I read a book or magazine (on my iPad of course). And when I do this, regardless of the weather, the sun is brightly shining into my world and I am reminded of what a wonderful life I have, what a blessing it is to live in a safe society, how remarkable it is that I can see, hear, taste, touch and feel the world around me. I am illuminated. And when I am I realize that in turn I radiate out these feelings to other and they reflect it back to me. It becomes a day of reflection. Reflection of the magnificence of my life.
So if you find your self caught in a rainy day and looking for rainbows is not your favourite pastime then I encourage you to sit in quiet contemplation and let the illumination in your life radiate from the inside out and before you know it you will be aware of just how much is right in your life and you can release and let go of that “rainy day feeling” and sure enough the people around you will light up as well and then you will be caught on the sunny side of life yourself.
