When the Hail Storm Hits Your Windshield

You never know when a hail storm will hit, so you revel--

you choose to revel in the beauty of the moment.

The moments of that Sunday noontime at a park in town, after a good worship service,

when you are on your way to pick up a friend to stay overnight with your daughters.

 The simple picnic of a crock pot meal is over, and now the little ones are eager to visit the ducks.

 And why is that duck nibbling the beautiful pink waterlily blossom?

 I have to admit, there are some things lovely enough that you could wish you could taste it.

 And then there are some scenes so beautiful that there are no words for it.

 And that is before the storm hits your windshield full force.

 Just an hour earlier, we were in the sunshine and flowers,

savoring the fountain and ducks,

and now there is so much hail on the road that there are tracks like it is a snow storm.

 An hour earlier, children explore around the waterfall, and you think about how Christ is the water of life,

And in no time flat, you are creeping along your road with other people's hail-ridden lights glaring in your face,

and instead of a fountain of life, there is a crashing, crushing lash of hail.

 And that is when you are glad you have the refuge of a leak-proof van,

the Refuge of a Shelter in the time of storm.

And memories of beautiful times at His feet when His beauty entranced your soul.

 Because the hailstorms will batter, and you'll have to face the creepy future--

and maybe you'll wish for goggles to protect you from reality.

 And you'll be glad for when you savored the moment--

the moment of peace and shelter and rest...before the storm hit.

 So when your daughter comes in with her friend the next day, to the deck strewn with the ladder that the boys climb to the attic to trap mice, and strewn with clothes that had mud rinsed out of them, 

and the girls are proudly covered with all the mud splatters of the fun fourwheeler ride they just took,

and they insist that they will indeed wash their own clothes out...

 you choose to smile and laugh and back through the door, and say,

"If you didn't have company here, I would not be smiling!!"

And you cringe back into the house and forget about the pile of muddy clothes, 

and remind yourself that there really are beautiful moments in the life of a large family of children.