I Prayed for Spring

I prayed for spring's warm touch,
but rain's cold kiss was all I knew.
It fell gently at first,
then gathered until
I could no longer find my way through.

The rain nourished everything around me,
yet somehow, it drowned me.
What brought life to the earth
left me searching for solid ground.

The droplets fell like tears from above,
soft against my skin,
heavy upon my soul.
I let them fall,
even when I could no longer tell
whether I was standing in the rain
or crying with it.

There were days
when I wondered why I had been given a storm
when all I had asked for was warmth.

But perhaps not every unanswered prayer
is a punishment.
Perhaps some are lessons
we only understand much later.

Rain can soften the earth
and still flood it.
It can bring life
and still leave destruction behind.

Perhaps life is much the same.

Some things hurt us
and still change us for the better.
Some seasons break us
before they teach us how to grow.

So I will not spend forever
waiting for the rain to stop.

I will learn to stand in it.
I will learn to breathe through it.
And when the clouds finally part,
I hope I will understand
why I had to become stronger
before I could meet the spring.