Pleasant Gloom

“In a world of disorder and disaster and fraud, sometimes only beauty can be trusted.”
- Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love

I think I’ve been in love with rain ever since my childhood friend used to tell me that fairies come out when it rains.

Since then I’ve developed a more profound appreciation for precipitation, though I guess I can’t really prove that little winged creatures don’t actually come out in the rain. My infatuation with rain exists not because it gives me an excuse to indulge in a sappy chick flick while feasting on some highly caloric treat (although this is a handsome bonus), but because of its beauty.

Lately I’ve struggled to develop a coping mechanism for all of the atrocities I've read about. How can I live peacefully, for example, knowing that so many animals are tortured on factory farms each day after reading the book Eating Animals? And even worse, how can I continue to live a privileged life while human suffering exists in every dark corner of the world? I can’t actually see the insidious oil spill, but how can I ignore all the damage and all the pain it’s causing?

One of the aspects that I really enjoy about Christianity is the idea that because Jesus died for us and chose to take all of mankind’s suffering upon Himself, He can serve as a sort of ashtray into which we can shake all of the ashes of the burnt-out problems that we cannot possibly cope with concerning life on Earth. Though I still struggle with several aspects of Christianity, I believe there must be a God who can serve as a depository for the corruption of humankind and who can heal it with His grace. Timothy Keller writes, “Though Christianity does not provide the reason for each experience of pain, it provides deep resources for actually facing suffering with hope and courage rather than bitterness and despair.”

So I asked God if He could please harness all of the hurt that I have been feeling for the victims of suffering in the world and try to cook up some kind of eternal euphoric treat for them out of all their struggles for when they reach the gates of heaven.

Then the falling rain showed me its beauty.

When the Earth is hot or just fed up with all of the stupid humidity, it simply decides to cool off with a shower. Precipitation is cyclical, in case you didn’t know. Plant roots soak up groundwater and transpire into the air while water evaporates from bodies of water to create condensation, which leads to the precipitation that moves us to our couches and cancels our picnic plans. It’s sorta crazy how all that works out in perfect succession every time (Hmmm - maybe there’s Somebody behind all that).

But more than all that, rain itself is beautiful. It’s too easy to be happy on a sunny day. Rain presents a challenge to humanity: Will you allow nature’s gloom to impede upon your mood, or will you dance in the rain?

At work the other day, I discovered that other people share my passion for “dreary” weather, so I asked them why. One of the cooks said, “A sun is just a plain piece of paper, you know. Rain’s got attitude – it’s got personality.” Another said, “I like my Vitamin D in small dosages. A good rain is refreshing.” He said he embraces the gloom that everybody else hates, and I do too.

I also like the rain because it gives us more freedom. Sometimes our freedom must be limited in order to experience new freedom. That may seem illogical, but when you think of a fish whose freedom is limited to water (on land a fish would suffocate and basically “drown” the way we would in water), it might make more sense. The fish is able to experience new freedom in its limited environment. Another example of this is when I start to run out of money at school and my meal selection is limited to bread, yogurt, and frozen veggies. I start to get really creative.

Rain creates freedom by limiting it. We seek shelter and get our bills done on a rainy day, or we play a boardgame with a family member (I wish boardgames were still cool). We invite a soggy companion to share the tiny space underneath our umbrellas and endure the falling fury of the sky in tender closeness. We finish a puzzle or we invite our friends over for a warm dinner that we may not have cooked if it were too nice out. And what about mudslides or extreme mud-fighting? Awesome.

So in the midst of all the troubles in the world, beauty is sometimes the only thing that makes sense.

And rain is beautiful.