Silver Lining

So, I'm walking around on the "floor" (as the third floor of our building is affectionately called. This is where DCS agents take calls.) when one of my co-workers strikes up a conversation with me:

Awesome Co-Worker: Hey, its good to see you up here. How is research going?
Me: I love it.
Awesome Co-Worker: I can tell. Its so good to see you smiling again.
Me: [blushing, laughing, smiling...] What?
Awesome Co-Worker: You've been smiling a lot more, lately. Its a good thing.
Me: [nodding in agreement.] Thank you. God has been showing me a lot. And I love working in research.
Awesome Co-Worker: That's good to hear.
Me: I like being friends with happy people--some of my best friends are the ones who can laugh at themselves.
Awesome Co-Worker: This is key.
Me: Well, I guess its about time I become one of those people.
Awesome Co-Worker: I had no doubt you were always a happy person. But its good to see more of it lately.

And I walked back to my desk downstairs, beaming with happiness.

Well, today, the conversation continues. I was shopping in Seattle with my mom and we were walking alone Pine street, after a successful run at Pike Place Market. Without going into the long involved story about the silver ring that I wear on my right hand, I will say that I had gone without the ring for the past three weeks. And for those three weeks, my naked hand stared at me. And for those three weeks, I kept running my thumb along the indented paled skin around my fourth finger.

I didn't want to admit it, but for those three weeks, I felt that a part of me was missing.

I searched for a new silver ring, knowing that by doing so, I would have invested in four separate rings in the past eleven years. I had failed to find one that fit perfectly, and I had given up the search. However, at Pike Place Market, I found a very close likeness to the one I had owned. I was happy.

And this is what my mother saw, as we walked along Pine street.

Me: I'm sorry, I'm just so happy.
Mom: I can see that.
Me: I know it's silly, but I have wanted to find this ring for so long.
Mom: I know. You are very happy. I guess it's meant to be.
Me: [staring at my ring.] It just felt different without it.
Mom: I can see that. I'm glad you found that part of you that you had lost.

And she doesn't even know the half of it.

I know this is just the silver lining, and I'm not quite through the storm. But something good is still going to come out of this nearly month-long journey. I just know it.

Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a
crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives a blessing from God.
--Writer of Hebrews, Hebrews 6:7

In midst of this storm, I shall drink deep and not drown in it. Out of this nourishment, God will produce something beautiful. And that is enough to make me smile.