Dancing and Counting

Our winter of never ending snow gave way this year to a spring of unrelenting rain. As I listen to the thunder booming and rain splattering, I think of my family in Texas in the midst of a drought. It's a strange, helpless feeling to be overwhelmed by so much, and wish for less, when you see others in the midst of great need, desiring more. There's a sense of guilt that arises.  And the questions.  Why me?  What should I do? What can I do? 

We set off in the rain Tuesday morning to venture into Pittsburgh for an appointment. I love the country, but the city has its own beauty. Especially in the rain.

We arrived just in time to catch a rare appearance of blue sky.



An hour and a half later, we emerged from the doctor's office to an all too familiar sight.



I watched the buildings go by through the blur of rain.  And I began to see the beauty there.



Rain is a soft lens that capriciously subtracts some details while highlighting others.







Color, form, movement caught by blurred brush strokes from the sky above, the wind around, the earth beneath.

We arrived home during a brief respite.  The earth waited in hushed expectation as the clouds held off only a moment or two,





then pummeled the soaked ground and fragile flowers again and again.





It was then I knew what I could do.  I could dance in the rain.

Dancing faces you towards Heaven, whichever direction you turn.  Terri Guillemets
 

Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.  Author Unknown 

And so I did.

 I believe that we learn by practice.  Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living.... In each it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one's being, a satisfaction of spirit.  One becomes in some area an athlete of God.  Martha Graham

And in so doing,  I practiced...becoming an athlete...of God.

I continue practicing with the community of gratitude by counting thanks for:
275. rain
276. getting there safely
277. getting home safely
278. time spent with my Dear Professor
279. his firm hands on the wheel
280. lunch on the road
281. blurred lens
282. seeing the old familiar in a new way
283. unexpected sunshine
284. unexpected beauty
285. dancing in the rain
286. His grace always there
287. everyday moments of awe
288. acceptance and the heart change it brings
289. a glimpse of the "shaping of achievement"
290. "satisfaction of spirit"
291. strength in weakness