I just got back from a jog. And for those of you who don’t live near to us here in Orange County…there has been a storm that rolled in on  Monday, and we have been plagued with frigid weather and rain for the past several days. And yes, this isn’t merely “Orange County Cold,” I believe it really classifies as cold; it was 43 degrees when I got back in the car from the run (that’s 6 degrees Celsius for my international friends).

“Jog?” You ask. “Like, you really went running in this storm?”

Yep. And it was the best run I have ever had in my entire running career. Seriously, when I got back to the house, I had to double check my distance, because I have never run 5 miles so fast.

So let me paint you a little picture of what played out in front of me this afternoon during my jog:

The rain is falling steadily in the darkening afternoon. And there I am running with a determined pace, feet pounding against the sidewalk with purpose.  All layers of my clothes are soaking wet; my hair is damp and sticking to my forehead as my pink cheeks glow with energy. The sky is dark and churning, and it almost seems as if the next hour floats my in slow motion, with the drops of rain dramatically colliding into my skin, mixing with the droplets of perspiration as I press forward purposefully.

It is in this moment that it dawns of me, that this is really a beautiful moment. We have all had times in our lives when you look around and see something noteworthy – something breathtaking. Sprinting in the pouring rain, pushing through the night to set details just right for the important presentation in the morning, facing the mistakes you have made and telling someone that you are wrong and you are sorry, muscling through a rock climb until your hands begin to bleed in desperation, the examples are endless. But they all have one thing in common – there is pain. There is ugliness. There are dark clouds. And yet it is because of these obstacles that there can be beauty.  Its like a tense marriage where there must be the existence of one to have the other.

The human spirit is a very curious thing. It will be not be shoved down easily. It can take dark nights of the soul, death, break ups, lay offs, bankruptcies, miscarriages, car accidents, sexual abuses, sorrows, traumas, and tragedies and yet still push through. It is as if at one moment we decide that we do not want to disappear silently, and dig ourselves out of the cocoons and emerge with fierceness to overcome.

And as a people, there is something that we find fascinating with this entire process. We have an entire multi-billion dollar movie industry built upon it. Think about the premise of nearly any movie ever made. You have a character, you become acquainted with their situation, and then they encounter a problem, a trauma, or a tragedy. The main position of the movie is to allow us to witness them overcoming their circumstances. And this is the underlying theme for dramas like Million Dollar Baby, romance movies like The Notebook, or even children’s movies like Akeela and the Bee. There is something in each of us that silently cheers for the beauty and the sorrow. There is something in us that loves the tension.

There is something in me that made me come home, staring out the window at the rain, and decide to reach for my running shoes. There is something in me that loves the feel of my heart pounding in my chest and the music begins to majestically fill my ears while the rain and sweat pours down my face.

I know it is not everyday that it makes sense to me like this. There are days when I see the clouds and I simply want to crawl back to bed and hide away from the rain and cold. But one thing that I realize, is that in general, we are a people that love to see what we are made of. We love to rise to the occasion. We love to overcome adversity with ferocity.

So, I’m thankful for today. And for rain. And for beautiful jogs in the storm. And for realizations that, in the words of Dorothy Thompson,

“…Life in all of its sorrows is good; even if in a sense beyond our own understanding.”