Replenished-Nayra Guevara

This past summer I visited my family in Puerto Rico. Upon arrival, I instantly felt at home. The warmth of the tropical summer sun was ruthless. The car ride to my grandparent’s house was almost unbearable. I could not wait to cool off. After weeks of hoping for a rainstorm, I had given up. The land looked parched and in dire need of hydration soon. One night as I was talking with my mother, we heard rumbles in the sky. Immediately, we looked at each other and sprinted outside. It began to rain like nothing I had ever seen before. In the darkness of the night the rain was difficult to see, but it was clearly audible as it smacked the concrete. I ran around in the rain with my mother for what seemed like hours. Finally, the land was getting what it was begging for. I was just as grateful for the blissful rain as the land was. I plopped down on the concrete from exhaustion. The rain hit my face in random patterns and I could not keep my eyes open. I closed them and let the rain cool me off. At that moment, I felt completely free. I was part of the ground. I was experiencing what the ground was feeling. Lane describes this eloquently in the quote: “Touching the earth, therefore, becomes a way of entering more fully the deeper mystery of ourselves and God.” The rain kept pouring down, cleansing me and replenishing the land.