enjoy the light show

i usually sleep right through thunderstorms. many times the morning after a very intense thunderstorm my husband will ask me if i heard the thunder or woke up from the sound of the wind. and, usually i will have to say "no, not at all, i must have slept right through it." i think they must make me sleep even harder because most of the time i wake up very refreshed afterwards. of course, storms don't scare me when i am awake so maybe that attitude of confidence spills over subconsciously while i am sleeping as well. even when i was a child, i never remember being afraid of storms or even the forecast of one. I always just thought, "well when it gets here, i will just stay inside my house." the storm was outside, so in my mind, i was safe inside. i could look out the window and see the effects of the storm and still feel calm and secure because i felt protected inside my home. i knew when the storm was over i would go back outside and play. the storm was not going to be the end of anything, just a happening going on in the middle of my life.

we lived in oklahoma when my oldest daughter was about three. storms in oklahoma are very intense. huge tornadoes come through there quite frequently. one night while we were all sleeping, i heard her crying for me. i woke up and realized it was storming. the thunder seemed closer and louder than ususal and the lightning pretty much made it look like a light show going on in the sky. i went to her. she was crying and scared. she was looking to me for comfort and security. i calmly picked her up and reassured her that everything was going to be just fine. i told her the storm was outside and we were inside and we were safe from the storm. and tomorrow, when the storm was over, she could go outside and play. i told her to look out the window and look at the pretty lights in the sky. we sat there together for a little bit talking about the rain and the pretty lights and the sound of the pretty lights. she seemed to be comforted by that and was willing to lay back down and enjoy the light show, thats what we called the storm, from her window on her own after that. when we woke up in the morning she asked everyone if they saw the pretty lights in the light show last night and wanted to go outside to play.

there is a story in the Bible where Jesus sleeps in the midst of a storm too (mark 4:35-41) and, he was on a boat, at sea. all of His disciples were afraid for their lives and seemed to be mad at Jesus that He was sleeping. they woke Him up and asked Him if even cared that they were all going to die. obviously, Jesus knew he wasn't going to die, that is why he could sleep in the midst of what seemed to be disaster. He could sleep because He knew He was safe inside the boat. He knew his destiny was not dying in a storm at sea. He knew in the morning He would continue on His course of life.

i believe that sense of calmness and security should be in our hearts and minds in the midst of all our storms, even the ones that don't include rain, wind, thunder, and lightning. sometimes the storms of life rage loudly in our lives and it looks and sounds like disaster is eminent. but, we can have that same, strange sense of calmness that Jesus did if we know that our destiny does not include dying in our storm. it should be like we are just watching the storm from our bedroom window. so, just sit back and enjoy the light show, knowing that when the storm is over, we will continue on ejoying the rest of our life.