The calm before the storm…

It is a Monday morning.

The usual responsibilities await me, but my mind is somewhere else.

I have had this intense desire to “figure” everything out.

I don’t even know what “everything” is.

You know when you can feel a storm coming.

In Colorado, you can see the storm coming over the snow-topped mountains. 

In California, you can see it coming from miles out, across the ocean.

You can have a beautiful day. The sun is shining, just a light breeze and calmness, but you know something is coming.

It is the calmness that I feel.

We have a job.  We have six beautiful children that have very few things weighing them down.  We have a home that keeps us warm and safe.  We have each other.  We have families who love us despite our imperfections.  And we have a belief in things that are not seen, but are true.  Really true.

Yesterday, the children sat very quiet, too quiet, during sacrament meeting.  The baby was asleep in my arms, the teenagers actually listened to the talks, and the other little ones were quietly sitting.  It was calm.

Last night, we shared a family meal with grandparents around the dining room table.  Then followed it up with games in the basement.  It wasn’t quiet, but there was a calmness in the air.

I don’t know what our next “storm” will be, but I do know that if I get up, do what should be done, love my family and honor my Father in Heaven, it will be ok.

The fact is…storms make us stronger.

Without them, life is always calm.  No extreme joy.  No feelings of need.  No chances to hope.  No chances to rely on each other when things are really hard.

When it is dark around us, the Lord is there for us.  However, he is always there for us.  We don’t have to learn in the middle of challenges.  We can learn and grow all the time.

We can become better everyday.

We can wake up, start in prayer, and have that guidance that we need to figure it all out.

A couple of weeks ago, Colorado had a beautiful day.  This is not unusual.  Colorado is one of the most amazing places to live.  It was 68 degrees in the middle of October.  The kids wore their summer shorts for what they thought would be their last chance.  We heard that there was going to be a storm.  A snow storm.  For the record, the weather people seem to be guessing most of the time here in CO.  Well, this time, they were right.  We spent the next three days with snow on the ground and kids home from school. 

What I want to remember is that only three days after that record storm came the other side.  The days were even more beautiful then before the storm.  Record highs in fact. 

I am grateful for the days before the storm, the days, weeks, and sometimes months during the storm, and I am grateful for the days that follow.

I’m ready.  Bring on the storms and the record highs.

I am going to go and tackle that laundry, clean those bathrooms and read to those little girls, for I know that I will never figure everything out, but I can do those things that mean the most to my family.

May your storms bring you as much sweetness as mine bring me.

In the meantime…I’ll enjoy the calm.