Week 6 - Silent Storm

During my sophomore year of high school, I had a very close-knit group of friends (six of us). We literally spent every single weekend together! An activity we found ourselves doing every friday night was "forking" individuals' yards. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, "forking," it's where you gather hundreds of plastic forks and stick them in peoples' front lawns, typically. I know that may sound stupid, but it was the funnest thing a bunch of 15-year-olds could come up with.

Well one of these friday nights, I specifically remember we attacked two houses, rather than one. During our transition from house number one to house number two, I noticed that there was a very peculiar rain storm going on. However, this storm didn't have any rain, or even any thunder. There was only slight wind and massive quantities of lightning. Despite the lack of rain and thunder, that was probably the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in the night sky. The bizarreness of the storm deeply intrigued me, being that I was extremely fascinated by its ability to produce only lightning. The image of sharp, urgent bolts of white lightning against a dark, purple sky was extremely divine and pleasant. This image has stuck with me ever since.

In contrast, I am normally terrified of thunderstorms. I have detested thunderstorms since I was just a little girl, likely because of the thunder. Again, I find it odd that there exists a storm without thunder. I must say, I am SO in love with these lightning storms! It's amazing how one simple factor can change your opinion so greatly. As you can already tell, the effect a lightning storm has on me is extremely euphoric. I remember stepping out of the car to fork the second house, and how I paused to absorb and enjoy the beautiful storm for a minute. The earth around me was absolutely silent. Then, I looked up into the sky - there were clouds, without a doubt. I saw them whenever the magnificent lightning struck the sky in 15 second intervals. To me, this image is calming and peaceful. It amazes me how beautiful God's creations are. Now, whenever there is a storm and I am trying to fall asleep at night, I focus on the flickering that I can barely see through my closed windows. I fall asleep that much quicker, all because of the calming affect lightning has on me.