Every Path has a Puddle

 

One day after a hard rain, my walk took me past this huge puddle that forms on the church property after a storm. The “pond” is an interesting shape, with varied shorelines and depth. It even reflects the rooftops and sky as beautifully as a mirror. But it is amazingly temporary. In just a day or two it disappears as quickly as it forms. The lawn then returns to its former dehydrated self, needing a sprinkler to survive.

I have long admired the brilliant writing of George Herbert, a Welsh-born poet and priest in the Church of England during in the 17th century. He writes simple words of wisdom, “Every path hath a puddle." No path is immune from the rain or from the puddles. Sometimes we need to remember this simple truth.

Jesus said that God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” The same sky that holds the most brilliant sunrises also holds the darkest of clouds and the hardest of rains. There are no favorites in the universe.

Longfellow added his two cents with,

“Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;

Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;

Thy fate is the common fate of all,

Into each life some rain must fall,

Some days must be dark and dreary.”

It is important to remember that puddles not only come, but that puddles also go. Sometimes even the puddles can end up being beautiful.

Peace.