April Showers

The showers hit just when the heat had gotten intolerable. After spending a series of days in sweaty torment I immersed myself in feeling the blessed relief of the cool rain. Always when you think you cannot handle anymore, you gain that much-needed reprieve. As is it is with Nature, so it is with life itself. I have often felt that days of what appear to be insurmountable difficulties suddenly give way to a time when all seems well or at least a lot more bearable.

The rain softened the hot dry earth. It washed away the dullness of the trees and plants. It cleansed the air and scented my little world with that unique wet earth fragrance that I love so much. I walked out the next morning to a sight that made my heart sing. The brightest greens vied for my attention with the rich russets of the earth. The striking red of the hibiscus, the sunny yellow of the trumpet shaped blooms whose name I do not know, the sparkling white flowers of a super-abundant bougainvillea adorning a neighbour’s pergola – all called out for my appreciation. I gave each sight its proper due, smiling like a child at the simple pleasure of a morning walk in the glory of a freshly washed day.

I watched all the little birds that serenaded the day from the ever so tiny sunbird that flitted from treetop to bush, to the ubiquitous bulbul with its jaunty hat and the spotted splendour of a pigeon-like creature that walked sedately on the paving stones. They all looked especially cheery to me – all out to celebrate the day with a song on their lips and a skip in their step. I could but envy their ability to look as jolly as I could only feel. 

Every day one goes out into the world to meet new challenges and seek new joys. Some days are harder than others. Some phases in life seem so tough that you grow weary of looking for that one bright spot on the horizon. Days when problems follow one after the other, never letting you catch your breath are not uncommon. And yet there always arrives a moment or a day when things get better. It is important to remember those moments when things are at their lowest. Just as we know that April showers will eventually turn up to help us beat the heat when the summer seems to have an implacable hold on the land, so we realize that if we brave the darker times, a lighter dawn awaits not far away. Till then we live each day as best as we possibly can always remembering to rejoice in the little blessings that come our way when we least expect it...