Welcome Rain: Part 2
I used to strongly dislike rain. I could find nothing good with it.
Damp clothes smell? Yuck
Even worse, damp dog smell. Yuck
Wet cold feet? Yuck.
Drippy awkward umbrella? Yuck.
Glasses immediately steaming up after coming inside out of the rain? Yuck.
Frizzy, stringy rain hair? Yuck.
Gloomy clouds that bring the rain? Yuck
Trying to keep what I'm carrying dry? Yuck.
Driving in the dark with it pouring rain? Yuck yuck yuck.
The return of rain in the fall brings up memories of dreary university days, midterms, shortening daylight hours, trying to juggle university textbooks, groceries, and an umbrella on a steamy bus. Even as a kid, I didn't like being out the rain. If there was even a drizzle I didn't want to be outside. PE class in the rain was miserable since I already disliked PE.
There was one year that I didn't mind the rain. When I lived in Northern Ireland, many of the days included rain, or at least a fine drizzle. And yet so often, by 10 pm, the rain had ceased, and what was left was a refreshing, earthy smell that made walking home after evening ministry refreshing and comforting.
This year, something was different. Listening to the heavy rain fall on the sunroom roof, through open window has been comforting. I am thankful for the rain. It is not something I want to wish away. There is good even in the rain.
Rain will replenish our wells, our groundwater. In the winter it falls down as snow up on the mountains. For our forests and our rivers and our agriculture... There are countless places in this world that are in dire need of water and rain. I need to be thankful for the rain and the important role it places in life on this earth.
Rain also replenishes and restores and makes clean. It permeates everything. It finds it way into all the cracks. As it collects it forms puddles, then creeks and rivers. A hard, consistant rain washes the dust away. It points me to Christ, who does the same on a deeper heart and soul level. His water, His word replenishes and restores me.
We use the concept of rain in so many ways:
tears falling like rain
raining money
blessings raining down
"rain on my parade"
"raining cats and dogs"
"rain or shine"
"when it rains its pours"
"raining men"
"saving for a rainy day"
Whether a positive or negative conentation, the main premise is the same: when it rains, something is changing, for good or bad. Rain brings change.
So it got me asking some big questions. What change do I want to see in my life and in the lives of those around me? What can bring that? What plays an important role in the ability to thrive? And what will replenish and restore? What can I rain down?
I landed on this.
Love.
Love like rain, getting into every crack, soaking everything, changing everything.
One of the shortest verses in the Bible is found in 1 John. “God is love.” (In fact, much of 1 John is a beautiful instruction on love.) Indeed, God in his fullness is the answer to all the questions I posed. And His instruction to us is to love. Love God, love our neighbours, love our enemies. He is my example in how to love.
Bob Goff in his book Everybody Always says “When it comes to loving others, no act of love is too small.” It begins with a small drop of love. And then another, and another, and pretty soon a river of love is flowing that changes everything.
So when I hear the rain splatting on the windows, I will hear it as a reminder to love in such a way that it permeates everything I do and say, affecting the lives of all those around me. Indeed, I need to welcome the rain.