Welcome Rain: Part 1
Rain. Whether you love it or hate it, it doesn’t care. Here on the coast of BC it is a fact of life. And facts don’t care about our feelings. After a beautiful week of unusual summer like weather, we have returned to the spring rain and drizzle. I’ve thought and written a lot about rain over the last few years and three major themes have emerged: Rain provides a necessary opportunity to embrace the uncomfortable in my life; rain teaches me how love can change everything; and finally, rain is needed for us to grasp the significance of the sun. Here is the first of a three part series I am calling “Welcome Rain.”
I grew up hearing the phrase “April showers bring May flowers.” In fact, I can see the elementary school calendar with scalloped border in my mind. Umbrellas for April, bright colour daisies for May.
When I moved to Vancouver for university and encountered the phenomenon that is “rain-couver,” I began to think the phrase should say “winter showers bring spring flowers.”
As I pondered this the other day as it drizzled, I wondered if the dislike of the rain I carried was actually something deeper. A dislike for the uncomfortable, the awkward, the sorrow. My longing for sunshine perhaps a longing to escape, to move quickly into a brighter future.
But as this simple phrase has taught us, without the rain there are no flowers. Without those things that push us to grow, there is no bloom. Without the hurdle there is no overcoming.
If I want to grow and produce fruit (or flowers), I need to persevere through the rain. I heard a story the other day of a young boy who has having trouble with his spelling for school, mixing up preserve and persevere. Similar words, but subtly and profoundly different. To preserve is to protect at all cost, to make sure we come out the other side unharmed, to maintain something in its original or existing state. To persevere, however, is to continue on in a course of action EVEN IN the face of difficulty, even if the outcome looks bleak.
If I want my marriage to grow, I need to persevere through conflict, have hard conversations, admit when I am wrong and serve my husband even when he is annoying me. I don’t want to come to the end of my life the same girl he married 10 years ago. Cause let me tell you, she may have been pretty on the wedding day, but things weren’t always pretty on the inside.
If I want to be a good steward to the daughters God has given me, I need to be willing to push through the toddler years with intentionality and purpose, not trying to escape every tantrum and meltdown, just waiting for them to bloom into pretty little roses. I need to continue on, persevere in faithfulness.
If I want my relationship with God to deepen, it is imperative that I stay the course of action of being in His word every single day. Because when the doubts and trials come, and they will come, I want to come out the other side more dependent and in love with my God and Saviour. James 1:2 says “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” In Romans, Paul tells us that then end result of suffering and perseverance is hope.
So when I hear the rain splatting on the windows, I will hear it as a reminder to embrace whatever may feel hard or uncomfortable and persevere through it. Indeed, I need to welcome the rain.
You can find my thoughts on rain and love here in “Welcome Rain: Part 2”