Beyond the storm!

I was staying in a hospital campus recently for a few days. I got up early in the morning hearing the wind and the hail storm, which lasted for about an hour. 

At day break, I set out to walk and look for the effect of the storm in the wooded area around the hospital. 

The first scene I noticed was broken branches of trees on the connecting roads and a carpet of fallen green leaves. 

As I continued my walk I was fascinated by the tall trees all around the campus with stems and branches spreading to create a spectacular sight of trees in the wild, growing to tell their story of years of presence in the wood. 

I noticed shrubs, plants and wild flowers which conveyed the forest ambience of the wooded area.

I noticed tow hens with their chicks were strolling beside the road in the residential area. 

The river had more water, flowing in it following the rain giving it  a meandering look !

Standing at the edge of the campus and looking well beyond the river into the hills surrounding it, I noticed rock formation of different sizes and appearances.

I was in the campus for four days. It took a storm to create within me a desire to look around, to get a glimpse of the diversity of the campus and its surroundings.

When one is taken by surprise by an event or experience, even amidst the difficulty or loss associated with it, there is another dimension to such experiences when we reflect on them leisurely and reflectively. 

The unexpected events can bering a new consciousness and awakening within, to see beyond the stereotyped outlook or the preoccupied thinking. 

The sun had by then was hiding behind the clouds with its brilliant bright colourful radiance. 

I returned to the guest house carrying a sense of surprise of what I observed during the hour long walk. I remember walking between the buildings in the campus a few times during the four days that I was already there, and yet missing the details I noticed in the walk after the storm.

It was the storm that aroused an interest within me to look with mindful eyes and carry home insights that had evaded me until then. 

I remembered a surgeon mentioning to me that it was an experience of loosing a family member to cancer, which persuaded him to specialise in Oncological surgery. Since then he found his vocation to accompany people during the years of their fight against cancer. 

Dr Paul Brand noticed that people suffering from leprosy, having lost their pain sensation, did not recognise when they sustained an injury in their foot. The unattended injury led to an ulcer, which often ended up as a non-healing ulcer. It was this that led Dr Brand to devise a foot wear  with microcellular support that the foot could be cushioned and protected from sustaining an injury. It was because of his persuasion the Madras Rubber Factory produced the micro-cellular rubber, which since then has been widely used to protect the feet of those with leprosy. 

I felt moved by sighting the rising sun in the east, at the end of my morning walk, because it brought to my mind these promising memories that can follow a storm ! 

The storm is fearful; but the calm that follows thereafter can be pregnant with rich meaning and direction. 

What surprised me was the flower in the photo above. It survived in the wind and hail storm. Its was protected by the foliage around it. 

That too became a symbol of hope as I reflected on the walk and the post-storm sights. 

There is provision of protection even in a storm!

That is a message to live with. 

Jesus of Nazareth came walking in the water in the night, while the disciples were caught in a storm when the boat they were sailing in was about to be capsized. Jesus stilled the sea and the wind. 

There is hope even amidst a storm!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)