Brace Yourself: It’s Coming
But it's not the disaster you’re expecting. If you're always expecting the worst, this is for you.
Filled with a sense of impending doom? Me, too. This message might be for you.
The other night, I was stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the expressway, staring up at the clouds. The sky was the kind of color that makes you uneasy.
“A storm’s coming,” I thought to myself, “but not just any storm.” I fully convinced myself that a tornado was about to form. My chest tightened. I realized if it hit, there would be nowhere for me to go.
(By the way, I don’t live somewhere where tornadoes are common!!!)
Amid all this anxiety, something in the clouds caught my eye.
And no, shocker, it wasn’t a funnel cloud.
It was a rainbow.
My jaw dropped, and then I laughed a little at myself. It was almost like God was rolling his eyes at me, saying, Why are you always anticipating the worst? You’re all wound up, bracing yourself for a storm that’s not even coming. Even when the skies look heavy, you’re still receiving rainbows. When are you going to realize you can relax, kid?
Maybe you’re like me.
You’ve spent most of your life waiting for the other shoe to drop. Always scanning the horizon for signs of the next storm that’s brewing. Always on edge. There’s a diagnosis in there somewhere, I’m sure, but I’m no therapist.
All I know is this:
You’re gripping your steering wheel with anxiety.
You’re waiting for something to come crashing down.
You’re expecting something to go terribly wrong.
Maybe because that’s all you’ve ever known.
Maybe that’s what you’ve gotten used to.
But maybe this time is different.
It could be wishful thinking, but can you promise me something? Can you start looking toward the horizon with just an ounce of hope? Let your guard down just a little bit? That’s all I ask. Just enough to let a silver lining or sun shower shine through. Can you try that?
When you do, maybe you’ll start to loosen your grip on the steering wheel. Maybe, just maybe, you'll realize you can finally relax. Maybe you’ll realize a tornado was never likely in the first place, and that you’ve already survived every storm up until this point, anyway.
It’s about time you received some rainbows.
They’re coming. Get ready. Look up.
