This is a weekly ride for me.  https://strava.app.link/BglU3TMdtWb

I’m a Quaker, and most of the time, I ride my bicycle to meeting. Today, when I got up, it was raining, and while I could have taken a bus or found some other means to get there, I rode my bike.

Riding usually helps me clear my mind. Even when politicians are bent on harming or eliminating swathes of our population, even with economic uncertainty, riding can often help me to clear my mind.

Today, my mind has been troubled. As a Quaker, I believe that there is that of God in each of us – some spark of human divinity or divine humanity that is able to enlighten every single person on Earth. But I am also intersex, and because I’m not living in the gender that I was assigned at birth, I’m also trans. And living under a regime that considers me a terrorist simply for that, I have difficulty seeing that divine humanity in some people.

Still,  I’m a Quaker. It’s not up to me to ignore that spark of the divine in those who would wish harm upon me. Instead, I need to recognize the wounds that render such people incapable of finding that of God within themselves.

The human part of me can lead to dark places. I can be led down a road of anger, resentment, or even self-harm. But there is that spark that lives in me that will, when I listen to it, when I give it the fuel it deserves, when I provide it kindling and let it burn within me, show me another way.

In the rain, I can take what many see as unpleasant, and i can let it wash and cleanse me. I can ride and clear my mind.

A friend once wrote of the rain, saying, “Me, I’m not alone. I have the rain. I have my soul set free. ” And I suppose that’s a lesson for me. Rain can upset some people. It can stop some of us in our tracks. But, at least for today, it washed me; it was my friend.

And that, sometimes, is where riding in the rain leads me.