Even in the Rain — Part I
You can live in paradise.
Its Day 20 in America.
There’s been glory, there’s been fun, there’s been wind, there’s been rain.
The rain hasn’t felt so good. Does it ever?
It’s cold, its gray, its wet, its rain.
“I live in Paradise”
I hear myself often say, “I live in Paradise”. I also realize it’s kind of easy to say that when you live in Bali. But I used to hardly say it at all when I lived here. Is here not Paradise?
Maybe on vacation or in particular moments I used to say “THIS is Paradise”, which of course is fixing paradise to a particular place or event. And until just recently I still believed “Paradise” was a place out there.. a place you goto… and Bali has certainly fit that bill.
This trip to America however has really been showing me something new.
Even in the Rain.
Maybe especially in the Rain.
An Unexpected Discovery
This trip has been full of incredibleness and goodness, it’s also had its fair share of complexity and chaos — with a bit of my past trying to smuggle its way back into my future. I won’t have it.
I’ve been getting a full dose of real life and all that comes with it, and through it all, I’ve been seeing things new.
Even in the Rain.
Maybe especially in the Rain.
Some things haven’t changed at all, but I experience them differently. Some things have changed quite a bit, yet I feel them through a different lens. Some things that used to weigh me down, simply don’t. I stand there ready to feel what was familiar to feel, and yet that feeling never feels. It doesn't come.
I am changed.
Even in the Rain.
Maybe especially in the Rain.
One of the things this trip is showing me (and I totally didn’t expect this) is just how deep many of the changes in me have gone. They are real.
This is how we do
And this brings me back to “I live in Paradise”.
It turns out Paradise isn’t a place “out there”, its a place “in here”. Better said, it’s a “state of being” that resides in me, “in here” and in you too.
A state of being. Being.
Pain and Pleasure, Pleasant and Unpleasant, its all part of the experience. It’s all part of the goodness woven together creating the wonder-filled tapestry of our lives. We are spiritual beings here experiencing a physical world. How incredible is this?!?
Our job is simply to love, be loved, and experience it all. To know it, feel it, be in it… just in that moment, then let it go. Then onto the next. This is how we experience Paradise.
There is no need to fix something. No need to manage it. Life is weaving it all together. God has got this. The play is afoot. Paradise is already here.
I do indeed live in Paradise. It is within me and goes everywhere I go. You can live in paradise too. It’s in you, there’s just a bit of work to do, to get everything else out of the way.
I live in Paradise.
Even in the Rain.
Maybe especially in the Rain.
Do you want to too?
Let go and LET’S GO!
- Jeff
