Category: rain

Spring has Sprung

On By LarissaNapolitanIn rain, spring, thoughts about lifeLeave a comment

I opened my windows in my room last night before I went to sleep.  I had checked the weather, I knew it was going to rain.  I love rain.

Rain is the weather of my soul.  It is the type of weather that gives me butterflies.

In college, I loved to walk to class in the rain.  Of course, not the pouring down rain, but the light and steady rain.  I would pick my favorite music on my iPod and get out my umbrella. For a little while, under my umbrella, I felt like the only person in the world. 

Some of my favorite runs have been ones have been in the rain, like the time I realized I was a runner.  (I know that seems pretty crazy!)

Falling asleep to the rain is another favorite.  That’s why I opened my windows last night.  I wanted to hear the rhythm of rain when I woke up.  I wanted it to be the lullaby that put me to sleep.  A lullaby sung by my heavenly Father, with lyrics like this:

Rain…
refreshes
renews
cleanses
brings spring to life
is hope for new life.  

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 
he saved us, 
not because of  works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, 
by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 
whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 
so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to 
the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:4-7

Right now, rain is something I long for metaphorically in my life.  I long for refreshing, renewal, cleansing, and something to bring me to life. To fully grasp that I have hope of eternal life and do not have to cling to life on this earth. 

This morning, when I left my house, I noticed everything looked greener.  The weeds in my rock garden of a front yard were a little taller than yesterday. The blossoms on the trees where a little bit bigger. The brown of winter is beginning to fade away into a bright, lush green.

I have gone through a really tough season, perhaps I could say a winter, and I know it isn’t entirely over, but I am seeing glimpses of spring in my heart.

Those moments when I choose to be happy despite my to do list.
The smile on my face at the beginning of the day.
The ability to get out of bed even if I am exhausted.
Looking at the future with hope and not total despair. (I am prone to dramatics.)

Spring every year is a reminder of the renewal that God gives us in his spirit.  It is a reminder that we have hope in a better future, an eternal life. 

What does spring mean for you? What is something you find refreshing? Rain, sunny days?

I think I have become a runner….

On By LarissaNapolitanIn change, rain, running2 Comments


Yesterday, I went out for an 8 mile run at 10:30 in the morning. It was pretty cloudy and cold, just the way I like it for running outside. I looked at the weather and saw that we were expecting rain, but I thought I would have enough time before it started.

I was wrong. Just as I was going into my last mile it started to sprinkle and soon it was raining pretty hard. Instead of stopping and find a place to wait it out. I kept going. Invigorated by this surreal moment, I smiled and kept going.

I thought about all the times I had passed people running in the rain and thought they were crazy.
I thought about the times I had used rain as an excuse not to work out.
I thought about insane I probably looked smiling and running.

That was my favorite run so far in my training….

….because I think….
….just maybe…
…I have become a runner.

I describe myself as many things, teacher, artist, sister, friend, coffeelover, booknerd, tv addict, but never have I used the term runner to describe myself.

It is a surreal thing for me, as someone who hated running a year and half ago, as someone who hated PE in school, and stood in the middle of the field while playing ultimate frisbee, and always vetoed the suggested of physical exercise as an option to do with friends.

So when someone suggests that people can’t change, I tell them my story about what I once was and what I am now.

I am now a runner.

What are you? What do you want to become? Is there something you think you will never be? What do you see as impossible in your life?