The Rain.

It was somewhere in a movie that I first heard, “God is in the rain”. It didn’t immediately strike me as an epiphany but, it stuck in some part of my brain. I kept on with the movie, thoroughly enjoying it. That was that. There is general wisdom that change comes gradually. If you want to change something, you must work on it every day and every opportunity you get. I had always been a sceptic when it came to believing in a higher power than man. Some people refer to it as God. For some, it is a way to blame their misery onto someone else. For others, it is hope. I didn’t believe in God as an outright figure watching over us yet whenever I needed something: I did pray.

So there I was one day, walking down on a brick-laid path going wherever I was going. The weather was calm, with a sense of coldness in it. It was like an army Captain watching over his troops, silent yet strict, ready to teach a lesson to anyone who didn’t listen. There was some greenery planted on both sides of the narrow paved road that I walked. The air was beginning to cool down, slowly filling with moisture that I felt on my cheeks. Suddenly, I felt something on my temple, a drop, then another on my cheek as I looked up at the sky. The clouds were in disarray, about to let go of everything that they held inside. “Shelter! Find shelter”, my mind restored me from my gaze of the beautiful skyline. I began thinking on my feet again, looking around trying to find something to stand under, to protect myself from getting wet.

All living beings are different. Humans or animals. Born in a different breed and being as far away from each other as possible. But we all have something in common. As soon as we find ourselves in danger, we look for safety. Such is the nature of a being that can think. To survive and protect itself. Instinct.

I found myself a well-grown banyan tree with leaves laid out in span and spread. I took to shelter quickly. The rain started to pour down as if it was waiting for me to stand still. So I stood still, lost in my world as I was moments ago, with the additional worry of rain and how it delayed me in my work. Thunder! The sound of lightning striking earth and then another, of it going back towards heaven. That shook me where I was standing. The rain wanted my attention. I obliged. The thunder stopped. The rain that was pouring down so heavily began to pace itself. I decided to open not only my eyes but also my mind and see. See the now constant shower of droplets of different sizes falling. They were touching the earth and joining with it and with others of its kind. Then at that moment, when I was beginning to see the rain for what it meant, it struck me. From a time long gone by, the words imprinted deep within my consciousness, said to me- “God is in the rain”.

That was a moment of the epiphany as anything else that I had had. When you realize and accept something, it forces you to search for it even more. Standing under the leaves of the green banyan that was trying its best to protect me from the rain, I started searching for God. I lifted my arms out from the safety of the leaves and opened my fist into a palm. I caught some droplets that were on their way to their cycle of rebirth. My hands felt cold and wet, yet that wasn’t the only thing I felt. I also felt real. I looked down and saw some shrubs that were soaking all the water that they could. Some others that couldn’t handle the earlier downpour were showing some parts of their root. The rain had taken away some soil that lay there as an exchange for the life it gave. Yet the shrubs were clinging onto the earth as they knew they needed the moisture to survive and grow.

At that moment, I realized and accepted that I wasn’t alone, that we weren’t alone in this world. I didn’t immediately believe in God but opened my eyes to nature. It gives life and has the power to take it back whenever it wishes. It must be some form of the Almighty that people believe in. We don’t have to change our beliefs at command because change doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, patience and above all, the will to accept it. That day when the rain stopped, I went along my way. I still didn’t believe in God. But I understood that only I have the power to change my beliefs. I was ready for it, however long it might take.