Renewed

After the freak storm that hit Sudbury yesterday afternoon, I was more than just a bit curious to see what the lasting effects were, so this morning I was out for a walk, with eyes eagerly darting around, but what I found was yet another example of the resilience of nature.

Yesterday afternoon, after the wind and rain had died away (for the most part) there were small piles of what looked like snow dotted around town. Closer inspection showed that it wasn't really snow, but hail - larger than pea sized hail - that had gathered (thanks to the wind) to remind us of the violence that nature can exhert every now and then.

Once the clouds began to clear, and the wind died down, blue skies returned with a promise of calm and wonderful summer weather that would follow. This morning, the skies are a brilliant blue, there is little if any breeze and the temperature promises a beautiful summer day suitable for tanning, getting out and enjoying some down time. Sure there are still traces of the storm around but leaves and branches can be swept up and relative order can be restored in time.

If only human beings could learn from nature, we might begin to master the art of recovering from the storms that sometimes ravage our lives. Like all things living, human beings do indeed need to recognize the damage that results from rocky relationships, from betrayals and from various other insults to the trust that is bestowed by friends and those who love one another, but we also need to discover how to recover from these storms, and how to allow the scars that result to help us learn the most valuable lessons.