One thing is sure, life is not always what we want it to be. We want happiness and tranquility, but sometimes, unpleasant things happen, and at other times, raging storms pop up that appear to destroy our happiness and tranquility.

A day in my childhood remains vividly etched upon my mind. That spring day began as an unusually beautiful day. The sun, in all of its brilliance, rose and I played outside in its warmth, but in the early afternoon, things began to change rather rapidly. Foreboding clouds appeared in the western sky, and in a short time, they became black and ominous. Brilliant lightning flashed, loud thunder clapped, strong winds blew, the old house shook and hail beat hard upon the roof.

My sister, my brothers and I terrified by the raging storm, gathered around my mother. With a concerned look on her face, she looked out the window at the storm, and with calmness in her voice, said to us, “Don’t be afraid. The storm will pass.”

After a little while that seemed like an eternity to me, the winds ceased to blow, the black clouds began to lighten, and small rays of sun began to appear. Still looking through the window, my mother said, “Look! The storm is over! There’s a beautiful rainbow in the eastern sky!” And there was, and it was beautiful!  It was the first rainbow I ever remember seeing.

That’s life, isn’t it? Storms come, and they appear to be devastating.  For a while, they disturb our happiness and tranquility, but the storms pass, and life goes on. Kitty Wells — the sixth most successful vocalist in the history of Billboard charts — sang so beautifully, “Well, it looked like the sun wouldn’t shine anymore, but God put a rainbow in the sky.” Therefore, most of us can say with Matthew Henry, “After a storm comes calm,” and life settles back into a normal pattern and our happiness and tranquility return.