She had been shopping with her Mom inWal-Mart. She must have been years old, this beautiful brown haired,freckle-faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain thatgushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the Earth it hasno time to flow down the spout.

We all stood there under the awning andjust inside the door of Wal-Mart. We waited, some patiently, others irritatedbecause nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall.I get lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dustof the world.

Memories of running, splashing so carefreeas a child come pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day. Hervoice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance, we were all caught in.“Mom, let’s run through the rain.” she said.

“What?” Mom asked.

“Let’s run through the rain!” she repeated.

“No, honey. We’ll wait until it slows downa bit.” Mom replied.

This young child waited about anotherminute and repeated: “Mom, let’s run through the rain.”

“We’ll get soaked if we do.” Mom said.

“No, we won’t, Mom. That’s not what yousaid this morning.” The young girl said as she tugged at her Mom’s arm.

“This morning? When did I say we could runthrough the rain and not get wet?”

“Don’t you remember? When you were talkingto Daddy about his cancer, you said, ‘If God can get us through this, he canget us through anything!’”

The entire crowd stopped dead silent. Iswear you couldn’t hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No onecame or left in the next few minutes. Mom paused and thought for a moment aboutwhat she would say.

Now some would laugh it off and scold herfor being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment ofaffirmation in a young child’s life. Time when innocent trust can be nurturedso that it will bloom into faith. “Honey, you are absolutely right. Let’s runthrough the rain. If get wet, well maybe we just needed washing,” Mom said.Then off they ran.

We all stood watching, smiling and laughingas they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held theirshopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followedby a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars. Andyes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing. Circumstances or people cantake away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and theycan take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories.So, don’t forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories everyday!

To everything there is a season and a timeto every purpose under heaven. I hope you still take the time to run throughthe rain.

她和妈妈在沃尔玛刚刚购完物。这个小女孩应该6岁了，一头漂亮的棕色头发，一脸的天真无邪。外面下着倾盆大雨。排水沟里的雨水已经满满地溢出了边缘，来不及排走，就迫不及待地涌向了大地。

我们都站在沃尔玛门口的遮篷下。大家都在等待，有的人很耐心，有些人则很窝火，因为这鬼天气又给他们匆忙的一天添乱了。雨天总是引起我的遐思。我出神地听着雨声，看着老天洗刷冲走这尘世的污垢和尘埃。记忆飞转，孩提时在雨中无忧无虑地奔跑的画面汹涌而至，暂时缓解了我这一天的忧虑。

小女孩甜美的声音打破了这令人昏昏欲睡的气氛。“妈妈，我们跑出去吧。”她说。

“什么？”母亲问。

“我们在雨里跑！”她又重复了一遍。

“不，亲爱的，我们等雨小一点再走。”母亲回答说。

又等了一会儿，小女孩又说：“妈妈，我们跑出去吧。”

“这样的话我们会被淋湿的。”母亲说。

“不，我们不会的，妈妈。你今天早上不是这样说的。”小女孩一边说一边拉着母亲的手。

“今天早上？我什么时候说过我们淋雨不会湿啊？”

“你不记得了吗？你和爸爸谈他的癌症时，你说，‘如果上帝让我们闯过这一关，他就可以帮助我们闯过任何一关！’”

整个人群陷入了一片寂静。我发誓，除了雨声，你什么声音都听不到。我们都静静地站在那里。接下来的几分钟里，没有一个人来，也没有人离开。母亲停顿了一下，在想着该如何对孩子说。

现在或许有人会对此一笑置之，或者责备这孩子不懂事，有人甚至会完全忽略别人说了些什么。但这一刻，却是一个小孩子一生中需要被肯定的时候。若受到鼓舞，此时孩子单纯的信任就会发展成为坚定的信念。“亲爱的，你说得对。我们雨中狂奔吧。如果淋湿了，那也许是因为我们的确需要清洗一下了。”母亲说。然后她们就冲了出去。

我们都站在那里，笑着看她们飞快地跑过停着的汽车和地上的水坑。她们把购物袋高举过头顶想挡挡雨，但还是浑身湿透了。但是在她们身后，好几个人像孩子般尖叫大笑着，也跟着冲了出去，奔向自己的车子。当然，我也这样做了，跑了出去，淋湿了。我也需要接受洗礼。环境或其他人可以夺去你的物质财富，抢走你的金钱，带走你的健康，但没有人可以带走你珍贵的回忆。因此，别忘了要抓紧时间和机会，每天都给自己留下一些回忆吧！

世间万物皆有自己的季节，做任何事情也有一个恰当的时机。希望你有机会在雨中狂奔一回。