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Are There Rain Puddles in Heaven?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s almost summer and it already feels like summer. I walk a lot and I often see rain puddles. I don\u2019t want to get my shoes wet, so I avoid them. Life was easier when I was a kid. I didn\u2019t avoid the rain puddles, I loved splashing in them. Have you jumped in a rain puddle lately? Do you even notice them?<\/span><\/p>\n I wonder: Are there rain puddles in heaven?<\/span><\/p>\n So often we get caught up in our concerns; we get caught in the trap of our busy lives, in the tangled web of our routines, and in the worries and the concerns we face. I don\u2019t know if there are rain puddles in Heaven or not, but I know for sure there are rain puddles right here on Earth.<\/span><\/p>\n I can\u2019t remember the last time I even looked at rain puddles.<\/span><\/p>\n Oh yes, I \u201csee\u201d them, but I don\u2019t look at them. I don\u2019t see those dancing street-side pools full of childhood fun and reflections, so quiescent on a gentle summer-like evening. When I was a kid, I used to jump in them and ride my bike through them. But now I cannot remember the last time I even looked at one, let alone wanted to jump in one.<\/span><\/p>\n How sadly grown-up I\u2019ve become. Now I avoid those rain puddles as much as I can. But when we are children, we can\u2019t resist splashing in those rain puddles that spring up after a brief but furious summer thunderstorm. Rain puddles shimmering, the air fresh with the scent of rain, the storm has past and it\u2019s rumbling its way to another town, leaving behind rain puddles, exactly right for jumping into.<\/span><\/p>\n How many rain puddles have you jumped in lately?<\/span><\/p>\n You probably avoid them just like I do. How many times have you awakened in the morning and watched as the sun rose on a brand-new day \u2013 and appreciated the wonder and the beauty of it?<\/span><\/p>\n How many times have you taken the time to make the life of someone you know a little better? How many times have you given up something to make someone else a little bit happier, or their lives a little better, or shared their sorrow and made it a little easier to endure?<\/span><\/p>\n How many times have you held back a rush of hurtful, harsh words when someone has lashed out at you with a vicious tirade or an insulting or hurtful remark? Words are powerful things; words can hurt, and words can heal. How many times have you stopped to consider the effect your words will have on others?<\/span><\/p>\n Too often we look at life as an entitlement, rather than the gift it is. We\u2019re so burdened with our quest for happiness that we sometimes forget that the greatest happiness of all comes from making someone else happy, or someone\u2019s else\u2019s burdens a little bit lighter. Those who look to someone else to make them happy are most often disappointed. Each one of us is in control of our happiness. Making those you care about and love happy, makes you happy.<\/span><\/p>\n Too often, though, we forget that happiness comes from within. Being kind to others, making someone smile, or helping another lighten his or her burden brings with it inner happiness that lasts.<\/span><\/p>\n I have too often been guilty of using harsh or hurtful words when kind words would have healed and soothed. I\u2019ve chosen thoughtless and harsh words and only made things worse than they needed to be. When I\u2019ve done that, it didn\u2019t make me happy, it only made things worse for myself and the ones I care most about.<\/span><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know if there are rain puddles in Heaven, but I know there are rain puddles here on Earth.<\/span><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know why children find rain puddles so intriguing or why they want to jump and splash in them, sadly I\u2019ve forgotten the reasons why. But when I was a child, I remember wanting to jump in them and splash through them on my bike. We all grow up though, and those rain puddles that once amused and intrigued us as children are just rain puddles that pool on the sides of busy streets; rain puddles are just rain puddles now \u2013 things to be avoided. We all lose our innocence; we all lose our curiosity; we all lose the magical parts of us all of us had inside as children.<\/span><\/p>\n We are all in a hurry to grow up, but in growing up we leave too much behind.<\/span><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know if there are rain puddles in Heaven, but I know there are plenty of rain puddles here on Earth. We shouldn\u2019t wait to find out if there are rain puddles in Heaven, we should jump in the ones we have right here, right now.<\/span><\/p>\n Today, jump in a rain puddle. Or make someone you know feel better. Perform just one small act of kindness today \u2013 for someone you love or for someone you don\u2019t even know.<\/span><\/p>\n Hug your children and remember what a precious gift they are \u2013 and show them what precious gifts they are to you.<\/span><\/p>\n Jump in the rain puddles all around you. Think before you speak hurtful words. Count to ten and choose gentler words instead. Make your point quietly and without animosity. Use healing and comforting words whenever you can. Hateful words not only hurt others, but they also steal away our inner peace.<\/span><\/p>\n Not even one of us knows if this day is our last day, or if tomorrow will be our last day \u2013 or the day after that will be our last day. We cannot know \u2013 and most of us would not want to know.<\/span><\/p>\n What I do know is that every day is a gift and not something we\u2019re entitled to \u2014 far too often I\u2019m guilty of forgetting that.<\/span><\/p>\n Some of us do all we can to extend our lives as long as we can, while others, troubled by the heavy burdens of life \u2013 the guilt, sadness, tragedy, and sorrow, choose to end their lives because they have lost hope.<\/span><\/p>\n But hope, like happiness, does not come from others, it comes from within. There are rain puddles to jump in, but sometimes they are awfully hard to find in the dark.<\/span><\/p>\n Whether there are rain puddles in Heaven or not, there are rain puddles here on Earth. Make someone smile today. Make someone feel better about themselves. Say a kind word to someone you care about. Take time to make someone feel better about themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n And remember, if you look to others to make you happy, you will most often find yourself disappointed. Happiness comes from within. Happiness is yours when you make someone smile when you make someone feel better. Happiness is yours when you take the time to lift another up and lighten their burdens or ease their sorrows.<\/span><\/p>\n I can be a better person than I think I am. I can be the kind of person who brings light into a dark, and gloomy room. I can be the one to give hope to the hopeless.<\/span><\/p>\n And I can make someone smile today \u2014 and so can you.<\/span><\/p>\n And I wonder if there rain puddles in Heaven. I know for sure there are rain puddles here on this earth.<\/span><\/p>\n Please take the time to jump in a rain puddle today.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Are There Rain Puddles in Heaven? It\u2019s almost summer and it already feels like summer. I walk a lot and I often see rain puddles. I don\u2019t want to get my shoes wet, so I avoid them. Life was easier when I was a kid. I didn\u2019t avoid the rain puddles, I loved splashing in them.\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[228],"tags":[1720],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19476"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19476"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19480,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19476\/revisions\/19480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}