Waiting for the storms to pass

Sometimes when all is quiet at the end of the day I like to sit and just watch day turn to night. There is something that stirs within me just watching the stars twinkle in the sky. Often my son will join me and we have these great mom and son talks about the universe and how stars were formed, etc. May sound so trivial to some but I can honestly say these are some of my best moments. I love watching the sky and seeing the beautiful display of life stirring around us. This evening I was watching as the thunderclouds started rolling in and once again I started thinking about creation, etc. It started stirring a realization within me that life is so similar to these storms crossing the sky. There are days that all is calm and then a storm starts rolling in to our lives. We start scrambling to cover and brace things that are easily stirred around in high winds. My thought is always that I should have done this sooner. Isn't that so true? Why are we not always bracing ourselves and preparing for those turbulent times. Why wait until the storm is upon us? If we stabilize ourselves so we can stand strong in the midst of those "storms" it will make life so much more stable. That doesn't mean the water won't rise and we won't have to brace ourselves to brave the storm. It just means we will be a little steadier each time they come. It reminds me of how Jesus stood in the middle of that boat and told the sea "Peace, be still." Those times we experience we could learn a lot from this simple picture of how to brace ourselves. Life will have some twists and turns but we learn from each storm and come out the better and stronger for it.  Then, when the skies clear and the sky turns a brilliant blue again we can be thankful for hurdling one more of life's lessons.