Listening to the Rain

Amy’s Story

Amy was a healthy teenager and when she got sick with what she thought was the flu she went home and went to bed. Within 24 hours of her first symptoms, she was in the hospital on life support and given less than a 2 percent chance of living. Two weeks after her illness began she went into septic shock and her spleen burst.

Amy described her experience this way.

“There was a feeling of anxiety. I remember feeling my last heartbeat — and knowing it was my last  —

“And I saw a light. Not at the end of a tunnel, like people say, but enough of a light that I could see the silhouettes of three people. I don’t know who they were. They were just silhouettes motioning to me, saying you can come with us or you can stay.

“And I knew then that if I did stay that my life would be completely different.”

In that space between life and death, Purdy imagined the simple things that she loved: the smell of rain, the sound of ocean waves, crisp forest air and campfires.

I don’t know Amy personally. I know nothing about her faith or if she is religious. What I do know about her is that she is a fighter. Because of what happened to her and what she accomplished she has inspired others who have similar disabilities. She is courageous and she is a nature lover who has deep appreciation for nature and the beauty of rain.

How about you? Do you sit and listen to the rain? Do you know and appreciate the value of making time for the quiet, still moments in your life? Moments when you stop and reflect and ask yourself the serious questions.

Why Do I Do What I Do?

Questions like, why do you do all the things you do each day? Seriously. What is the purpose of your life? Before you answer remember, there is a difference in what you think you have to do, and what you actually have to do. My mother put it this way, “There are only two things in life you really have to do; pay taxes and die.”

Most of us are so busy we don’t even take the time to stop and think about a purpose, or why we do what we do. We just get up every morning and take off running. We spend our days attending meetings, climbing corporate and social ladders, chasing children, and then at night we fall into bed exhausted, hoping we will get enough rest to get up and do it all over again tomorrow. While there’s nothing wrong with being busy, there’s something wrong with being busy without a purpose.

Some people choose making money as a purpose, others choose to chase fame. Still others have searched their hearts in the still, quiet moments and found an entirely different purpose. Something bigger than themselves and something that lasts for eternity.

I would like to encourage you to make time for contemplation, mediation and prayer. Find quiet, still moments when you can listen to the rain. Look for a bigger purpose in your life. Strive to live in a way that when you leave this world, you will have made a positive difference. No matter how rich or how poor we are, we all have something we can do or give for the greater good of mankind.

Live so that when it comes to the end of your days  and your final moments so that if you aren’t given a chance to stay a little longer on this earth- you will be ready for what lies beyond.