Bring on the Rain

By Nichole Giles

Earlier this week, my son asked me if it was supposed to be windy or rainy that day. I shrugged, telling him, “The weather-lady said it wasn’t.”

“But Mom,” he said, “I saw some rain drops a few minutes ago.”

I scrunched my forehead in thought. “Yes, you’re right, it did sprinkle a little bit.”

“So the weather lady was wrong.”

“Apparently,” I said absently. I was all set to get back to whatever I was working on (writing) except that my son still looked thoughtful.

“Mom?” he said again. “How does the weather lady know if it’s going to rain or not?”

At this point, I launched into the whole explanation about satellites in space, and Doppler radar—which might have been over his head except that he had always been inquisitive in this way.

“Well,” he said after my lengthy diatribe. “I guess sometimes they can’t see rain.”

That made me think. Of course, he was right. Absolutely right. Not even the weather person can always tell you when it’s going to rain. No satellite, or radar, or fortune-telling machine can tell you when your life might take an unexpected turn—for good or bad.

So we live our lives the best we can, be the best kind of people we know how to be and write the best words—and stories—we can think to write. All the while, we hope and pray that someday our words will be read by someone who needs them. That our experiences and thoughts, along with the voices in our heads, can someday change the world.

And if our words can’t change the whole world, maybe they can change a life—or at least help someone change their own life. We do our best to learn from the past, live for the present, and hope for the future. And when we feel abundance of any kind of emotion—be it happiness, joy, anger, sadness, or true and deep heartache—we journal it, preserve it with words, in order to better draw from those feelings when we write.

The river of time is rolling past. When I feel, I write, and what I write when I feel strongly about something is always, always worth reading.

I cannot tell the future, anymore than I can look at the sky and tell you if it will be sunny tomorrow. But I do know one thing. Everything that happens in my life brings me one step closer to my destiny—which of course includes having a book on the New York Times Bestseller List.

So, go ahead life. Bring on the rain. I have a pen and paper handy, and I’m ready.