The rain found us. Again and again and again.

The water surged, the temperature dropped, and the lightning and thunder forced us off of the beach.

But after the storm, the sea’s wonders were more wonderfully revealed.

The dolphins showed up, chasing the schools of small fish stirred from their regular patterns.

The shells, sea glass, and other sedentary treasures were tossed out onto the shore.

The kids even discovered a starfish in the shallows, alive and wondrous in its strange simplicity.

All of this … after the storm. All of this dredged up from the bottom of the sea, which would’ve never been revealed to us without a deep sea dive or a trip to the aquarium. But here, in this moment after the storm, these deep sea creatures were available to us.

If the storm didn’t come… we wouldn’t have seen them.

Somehow, life works like that, too. Sometimes the storm churns things up, and even tears them apart. But afterward, we can see things we couldn’t see before, more clearly and with greater purpose. Sometimes, we need the storm to churn it all up, and remind us that we’re connected.

What happens here impacts what happens over there. What we do over there ultimately finds a way of impacting here. And it makes me wonder, what impact would I have if I recognized how interconnected I am? What could I see if I realized that there’s much to take in after the storms are over?