There is beauty in the storm, sometimes it’s just hard to see. Storms can be terrifying, scary, frightening, and intimidating. They have an ability to leave a wake of destruction in their path. Sometimes we see them coming, sometimes we don’t. Prepared or not, we get Stuck in the direction of their potential carnage.
Beauty in the Storm
We were able to sneak away for a long weekend to the beach a couple of weeks ago. The second day of the trip, beautiful skies turned dark in a hurry.
I have a fascination with watching storms out over the ocean. You can witness their strength and power at a distance that is safe. Their terror, scariness, fright, and intimidation lessens. Storms can be absolutely majestic in the distance.
I was able to capture the header image for this post that day. Peering out over the beautiful emerald green Panama City Beach, Florida water, I saw the darkness of an approaching storm in the background.
The photo stirred my thoughts. Is it possible to find beauty in the midst of a storm? Let’s explore:
Warnings
Most storms come with a warning. With technology today, we have the ability to know that storms are coming. We can literally sign up for apps that send us real time notifications of the status of the storm. They may not always be able to predict the actual severity, but do provide pretty good indication of what is to come.
Sometimes our worlds are too busy to see those warnings. The storm notifications get buried in a litany of email, text, and other app notifications.
In life and leadership, we can easily miss the warning notifications as well. The busyness of yesterday, today, and tomorrow can distract us from being on guard for approaching storms. We are fully capable of just missing the signs.
We have something greater than technology to warn us of approaching storms. Thunder comes before lighting, clouds come before rain, and gusty winds warn of approaching danger, and that indescribable feeling in our gut when we know things are about to get bad.
Storm detection in life and leadership requires us to be aware. Aware of rumblings within the people within our care, discouragement in those people, and the instincts to know when something just isn’t right.
The beauty in the storm…there are warnings.
Heroes Emerge
Police, Fire, Lineworkers, and other first responders run in the direction of the storm, not from it. They desperately pursue those who have been impacted by the storm. There is no rest until others are safe and in a better place. Heroes emerge in storms.
People get trapped in the storms of life. They can leave human beings feeling isolated and alone. Hopeless, discouraged, and depressed are the forms of destruction that the storms of life can leave behind. Storms are a call for heroes.
In life and leadership, there are people walking through storms all around us. Our internal Doppler radars simply miss them because we are so focused on our own storms. We are too busy looking inward, not outward. Too busy being selfish, not selfless.
The heroes people desperately need are loving, caring, and empathetic. The heroes of life and leadership run in when everyone else is running out. Be that hero.
The beauty in the storm…heroes emerge.
Every Storm Runs Out of Rain
As the wind picked up that day, I knew the storm was inevitably coming. All the beach goers frantically packed up their stuff and headed to their vehicles. We did the same.
We got to the vehicle just in time as the storm made landfall. Lightning, thunder, pouring rain, and high winds. By the time we got back to the condo, the storm was finished. Blue skies emerged as quickly as the storm hit.
One of my favorite songs is Gary Allan’s Every Storm. In the lyrics he sings:
Every storm runs, runs out of rain
Just like every dark night, turns into day
Every heartache will fade away
Just like every storm runs, runs out of rain
It’s gonna to run out of pain
It’s gonna run out of sting
It’s gonna leave you alone
It’s gonna set you free
In life and leadership, storms happen. It is one of those things that we just can’t control. Like it or not, they are coming. We may pass through it quickly or get stuck in it for a while.
The beauty in the storm…the promise that every storm runs out of rain.
Conclusion
Earlier, I challenged you to think of others and their storms. A word of caution…be aware of the warning signs of approaching storms in our own worlds. Too often we can fall into the trap as leaders of people to have it all together. Providing the false image to the world that we are made of Teflon and the storms just repel right off of us.
Sometimes we are the ones that need the hero to emerge. We are the ones that forget the very promise that every storm runs out of rain.
As much as storms can seem hopeless, discouraging, and depressing, there are sunny skies that await. There is beauty in the storm, sometimes it’s just hard to see.