I can smell the rain coming.

It won’t be long now before the land is drenched from the skies.

Like the heavens are trying to wipe away the grit and grime from the earth.

It smells so clean and fresh.

There is also a smell on the wind. A smell of hard weather. Storms, tornadoes and hurricanes.

I love the wind that carries the smell of the rains.

I respect Mother Nature and all of her power and glory.

She does not discriminate on whom and where she chooses to let loose.

I love the winds, the rains, the raging storms.

I feel the wind calming. The calm before the storm.

Now it is picking up, bringing on its outer edges the rain, lightening, thunder and hail.

The heavens sound like they are tearing open and letting Armageddon loose on mankind.

The rain pours forth like the ocean emptying itself from the depths and darkest places.

The thunder sounds like hundreds of bats being hit and cracked at once, rippling out across the land.

Lightening illuminates the skies, showing backdrops of clouds shaped like demons and wild fairy tales.

It seems like it will never end.

I wonder if the rain will ever stop, if the thunder will cease and the lightening will end.

Slowly, so slowly that the creeks, rivers and low lying roads are overflowing, but the rain starts to slow. The thunder and lightning gradually fade away.

Eventually the rain becomes a drizzle and then drops.

Finally, I see the sun peeking through the hazy clouds.

I think of Noah when the rains stopped and they saw land for the first time.

Like a miracle had occurred.

The earth was cleansed and fresh once again.

Gone were the things of man, replaced by the beautiful bounties of nature.

We are once again given the chance to start anew.

When the rains come, try to see it with a different prospective.

How it cleanses and how you can use it in your own life to start fresh.

Keep hope alive!