Dancing in puddles

Oftentimes situations you thought were going to be bad turn out to be exactly what you needed.

Especially when they involve rain.

I was pretty bummed this morning when I woke up and discovered the sun would not be making much of an appearance today. My plans to hang out at a pool on this holiday were obviously ruined, and I had a few errands I needed to accomplish, which is never a fun activity when you have to worry about getting drenched each time you go to and from your car.

I attempted to go up to the school today to work on a video I'm making for the district, but after driving all the way out there in the rain, I realized that some of the files I needed were sitting on my desk. At home. That was certainly not a good thing. I found myself take on a fairly bad attitude as I turned my around in the school parking lot and started the trek back to the house, where I figured I would have nothing to do.

But some childish fun distracted me before I got there.

I was passing by a park and glanced toward the parking lot, taking keen notice of the large amount of oversized puddles there were. I couldn't really control my hands as they suddenly steered the wheel into the lot and parked the car. Before I knew what I was doing, I kicked off my shoes, rolled up my pants and started running to as many puddles as I could, splashing and dancing to the music I had left playing in my car (Taylor Swift, of course). The rain started coming down a little harder, which made it all the more fun. I didn't care that I looked like a complete fool, and I didn't care that my clothes were becoming ridiculously heavy as they continued to become more and more soaked with the rain. In fact, in that moment, I didn't care about anything that would take away from the joy I had found. At all.

Joy in puddles

I wish I could dance in puddles more often. I think there are far too many instances in life where people choose to see puddles as these horrible things that get in the way, but I think they are more significant than we let them be. It's a simple fact that sometimes your plans will get soiled: you don't get the job you want; you don't end up with that person you thought would be by your side forever; you lose that championship game that you were sure was yours to clench; your flight gets delayed and causes you to miss an important business meeting; your car gets a flat tire the morning you were supposed to leave on a road trip with some of your best buddies; you realize you packed two left shoes in your gym bag when you're getting ready for work; or you get stuck in unexpected traffic when you just don't have time for that.

Sometimes life just happens.

Dancing in puddles this morning didn't make any of my problems go away. It also didn't solve world hunger. It didn't lead people to Jesus. It didn't cure cancer or take away people's pain or remove crime from the streets or bring peace to warring nations. But it helped bring joy when joy was needed most. Life can be difficult at times, and we have to face our struggles head-on, but the journey along the way doesn't have to be full of pain and negativity. There can be joy found in puddles—we simply have to discover it for ourselves.

So find a reason to dance—after all, it's OK to be slightly ridiculous every once in a while.