Let the Rain Fall

It's raining right now, as it has been for the past three days. Rain is a sign of God's grace, a free gift of love that He gives to us as a sign of His ongoing love for us. It washes the earth, cleaning what was dirty and making it new. It softens the earth, preparing it to receive the seeds of love. It waters those seeds, allowing them to grow and then to bear fruit. Sometimes this rain falls gently, so that one hardly even notices it. Other times it falls so heavy that one cannot doubt its presence and is soon soaked and if caught unaware, even swept away by it.

Those who do not know that this is God's special love may choose to cover themselves up and hide away from the rain. Those who do know set barrels or bowls out to catch it. They run and play in it, splashing in the puddles that collect in the holes which were once a danger but are now filled and healed with God's love - turned into something useful. Others simply watch, marveling at its beauty and power.

Those who are not thankful for the rain today will later miss it when the earth grows parched for lack of it, and the summer's heat bakes them because it is untempered by the mercy of the cooling rain. Water is one of life's great miracles, but it is also one which we most often take for granted, failing to see it as the marvel it truly is.