Rain!

I slept through it. The rain. After 25 days of 100 degree plus weather and extreme drought conditions, I slept through it. True, it wasn’t a heavy rain, but how I would have loved to stand in the refreshing liquid life, savoring the cool drops on my parched skin and deeply breathing the clean, clear air.

When I walked out the door at 8:30 in the morning, the sidewalk was wet and the dry grass no longer crunched beneath my feet. The rain-starved ground had guzzled every drop of moisture, leaving a springier cushion beneath my feet.

Driving across town that morning, I noticed the clouds. Instead of a clear blue sky with a scorching yellow sun, layers of white, gray, and black clouds dotted the sky, allowing filtered sunlight to shine down in gentler rays on the over-heated landscape.

In several spots around me, I eagerly watched gray streaks on the horizon, evidence of life-giving rain falling nearby, providing relief to yet another drought-stricken plot of baked earth. As I looked earthward, I noticed that the grass and trees around me already looked greener. Perhaps the green intensified because the sun’s light shone less fiercely, perhaps because the world’s dust and pollution had washed away in the rain. Either way, after such a long time of excessive heat and lack of moisture, my eyes greedily gobbled a green feast.

Just as the water from heaven falls on the earth and makes it green, so too the Spirit falls on mankind, making each of us an oasis in a land of spiritually thirsty people.

Father, let me be wide awake, ready to receive your life-giving Spiritual rain. May my soul drink deeply enough to allow the excess to spill over and water other dry souls.

Isaiah 44:3 “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.”

A Blanket of White

On Sunday morning the light streaming through my bedroom window awakened me, telling me it was about 7 am, time to get up. But when I looked at my watch, I saw it was only 5 am! For a second my sleepy mind couldn’t sort out this dilemma, but then I remembered: when I had gone to bed Saturday night, it was snowing outside! A covering of snow always reflects the light.

Those of you who hate winter and snow may struggle with this next concept, but when I thought about the snow, I became like a little child again. I jumped out of bed, hurried to the window, and flipped on the outside light. Sparkling in my back porch light, two inches of snow blanketed the yard. Overnight, winter’s drab landscape had changed to a white fairyland. The dead, brown grass disappeared under the snowy blanket, and the barren trees wore sparkling white accessories.

 There’s something special about freshly-fallen snow. It causes the world to look pristine in its winter finery, making winter’s plain face beautiful once again. Winter’s white blanket insulates the plants and muffles extraneous noises. Under its blanket, the world quiets and stills. On a cold, snowy day I love to curl up under a warm blanket, drink a cup of hot tea, and read a good book. If the snowy blanket is deep enough, activities and work come to a standstill. Many rejoice in the lull from routine activities and a time to be still. People stay cocooned in their homes instead of scurrying to numerous activities.

When I allow my soul to be blanketed in God’s spirit, the same changes occur. What was drab and colorless becomes white and sparkling as God’s spirit reflects His light and love. Even though the world around me may spin out of control, His spirit allows my soul to stay still and calm, resting in Him. Just as the blanket of snow insulates the earth, God insulates me against the clamor and coldness of the world and keeps my focus on Him.

Father God, wrap the blanket of Your Spirit around me that may soul may be still and reflect Your love.

Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”