Here we are at the start of a brand new year, and we are at the 14th day, meaning to say that 2 weeks had already passed and maybe some of us are all ready to go while some of us are still thinking about what do we want to do for this year.

I think for most of us, we are just glad that God has instituted this "system" that once every 365 days (or 366 days once every 4 years) we can "restart" and start everything all over again, or how we like to think that its a "fresh" start. Not a bad idea actually, to get everything going again, its like a new chapter, of our personal book of life.

On a personal note, 2013 would be categorised as THE worse year yet for me. Thou shalt not go into the details on that though. Really just glad that the ordeal is "over" as we crossover into a new year, as we turn the page into a new chapter.

However, just as we sang Auld Lang Syne and how am I glad that I can start everything anew, I received bad news in the family and spent the first week of the year, handling the funeral of an elder in the family, so much for starting the year well and gearing up for a brand new year! >.<

They always say, it never rain, it pours. You really wonder who is that sadist person who said that, but anyways, doesn't really matter does it? While you can't stop the rain, you can embrace it and dance in the rain. There are many things that we can't do or change, we wish that there are more that we could have done but I guess we did what we could with what we have, at the capacity we were functioning and operating at (or we allow ourselves to operate at!).

The thing about rain is this, we often look at it at the surface.

If you are in the water, i.e. to say that you are already in deep SOUP, you will be thinking that "GOD! Is it not bad enough that I have to be treading water ALL the time to keep afloat and NOW you got to send the rain!?!"

Looking at it on the surface will look something like that:

So, that looked really kind of scary, like the raindrops beating on the surface on the already bad situation. HELLO GOD! Where are YOU?!? Anybody home?

The truth is this, God is more often than not found not on the surface, but He is found IN the waters. Meaning to say that you got to go DOWN (What!?! You must be kidding right?)

...NOPE...Go down...

Why?

Because when you go deep down, you need to learn how to swim, you are learning to take control of the situation instead of letting the situation take control of you. You will realise that there is a calm that can only be found beneath the surface, in the deep. When you are in the deep, you are NOT affected by what is happening in the surface, you enter a realm where it is between you and the water. And in the Bible, water is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, that we will be engulf by the Holy Spirit, when we go deeper.

I tried to search for a photo of the water beating down on a pool of water but that was a little challenging to find. So, if this picture is of any good gauge at all, you will notice that in the foreground, there might be some bubbles and "turbulence" but the rest of the water is calm. This kind of illustrate what I am trying to say.

Inspired by the swim I had on the 2nd day of the new year before all the hoo-haas of the year started for my very interesting life. Where the rain started beating down on the pool where I was swimming at and I was thinking should I just go and wash-up or continue swimming? I realised that there is much calm and it was not cold down under. True enough, the rain ceased after awhile and the sun came out and lit up the land again.

We will realise that if we continue swimming long enough in the rain, staying in the pool, the sun will shine once again. There is always sunshine after the rain. Do not be consumed by the rain but learn to swim in the rain and embrace the comfort that the water bring. Have you listened to the rhythm of the falling rain lately...?? (: