It rained last night and early this morning.  It got me thinking about that old childhood rhyme.  You remember it, right?  “Rain, rain go away; come again another day.”  I know there is more to it, but that is the only part I would generally hear as a child.

As necessary as rain is, there is something about it that carries a negative connotation and reaction.  I watch the newscasts and they will talk about it being a perfect week or weekend . . . sunny, mid to upper 70’s, and no rain in sight.  Granted, that is the perfect forecast if you like brown.  Not only brown, tanned bodies . . . but brown scorched earth.  Before last night’s rain, the lawns were already starting to show the effects of a period of dryness.  The rain does so much to refresh our surroundings, yet we often fail to appreciate it because it inconveniences us.  I want to work.  I want to play.  I want to be outside.  I want to enjoy the day.  I want to stay dry.  I want . . . I want . . . I want!  Little or no thought is given to what is needed.  The future?  Some other day?  Sure, the rain can come then – just not today.

Aren’t we a lot like that when it comes to the “rains” of life?  (No, not the horse thing. 🙂 )  Oh, we don’t mind the refreshing rains once in a while.  The quiet, gentle, warm rain that is fun to play in and brings happiness.  “Rains” of good news, health, family, promotion, bonuses . . . rains that may disrupt our plans, but we’re happy to change because of the perceived benefit we receive.  It’s the other rains . . . the dark, cloudy, stormy rains that we would just as soon push off to “another day”.  Rains of sickness, grief, unemployment, disease, disability . . . rains that come with the storm clouds. 

If you know me, you might want to sit down as this next statement might be quite a shock.  I might be I am weird.  I love storms.  I remember as a child sitting on the porch in front of huge sliding glass doors watching thunderstorms pass by on a regular basis.  I loved the cloud formations and the lightning.  My parents would tell me that the lightning was actually beneficial to the earth and the farm.  I remember flying through a thunderstorm on an Aeroflot flight in Russia and loving it.  The beauty of being in the midst of the clouds and flashing lightning was incredible.  I still like to watch storms.  Bad weather hits, I want to see it.  The best part is when the storm is over and everything somehow looks different.

You know, it never is “another day”.  We never wake up and say, “Wow!  Tomorrow is here!”  It is today.  We need the rain.  Without it growth doesn’t happen.  Is the rain in your life today a gentle, healing rain, or is it a violent, thunderstorm rain that is opening up parts of your life that you would rather have left alone.  You see, the storms we face can also bring healing once they have exposed our great need.  I think I have faced my share of storms in life, but what do I know?  I’ve had more than some, less than others but I don’t think it is possible to define a “fair share” of storms.  For me, they have always exposed within me my greatest need for Jesus.  Storms that have stripped me of security, health, and freedoms have all taught me that I really didn’t have those things to begin with – only illusions of them.  The beauty of rain coming when it does is that God knows when I need the gentle, healing rain and when I need the inner-person exposing storm. 

I pray that the rain in your life today will accomplish its purpose in bringing healing, growth, and transformation.