A Reflection on Rain Drops

Outside a cold heavy rain is falling. It is dark, but only dreary if one chooses to see it as dreary. It speaks of rest and refreshment. Nature is slowly winding down as she prepares for her yearly rest and as she refills the reservoirs that were spent in the summer’s heat and drought. She lulls us on to join her. But we with our electric lights and our computers refuse her invitation. I often wonder if we are missing something when we refuse the invitation, something that would give us health of mind and body. The more I try to live according to the rhythm of the seasons the more I am sure that we are.

Productivity and efficiency have become modern day idols. We are like the people of ancient Israel who profaned the Sabbath with their incessant trading. “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale…?” Amos 8:5.  Only we have gone so far away from the Lord that we no longer even ask the question of when—our stores are open 7 days a week, sometimes even 24 hours a day, and 365 days a year. And we sacrifice ourselves and our fellow human beings on the altar of these false gods.

Perhaps the heaviness of mind and body that comes so naturally on a rainy day is God’s way of calling us back from the treadmill, slowing us down enough that we draw breath and see, if only for a moment, that life is so much more than our endless schemes and projects. Perhaps we can take a moment of stillness to remember that we are called into relationship with the Living God.

So drink deeply whenever it rains for however long you can spare and be refreshed like a lush, green plant growing and thriving in the rain.