Rainy Day

Why is a gentle rain so peaceful?  I was thinking this at 5:30 this morning while cozy in my bed, (which probably has something to do with the peacefulness) listening to the rain land in the dry grass outside in the dawn.  I also had my sweet cat curled up in the crook of my arm so it was an especially peaceful moment to praise God for.  

Of course, rain can be destructive as any weather form can, but I think most would agree that a gentle rain is a thing of beauty and rest. Not enough for an umbrella if one must venture outside but just the right amount to cause a pause in events and stay inside.  Especially desirable if one has access to a fireplace and soft throw with a steaming mug, for rain brings a cool damp no matter if it arrives in the spring, summer, or fall.  

Contemplation, really, is what I consider a side effect of rain.  I can distinctly recall an afternoon one year while sitting before a large picture window, water sluicing down the panes on a retreat.  I was mesmerized by the distortion of the view and ambient noise being drowned out leaving just me and my thoughts.  All I could think about was how God's grace washes over all souls who give Him their burdens - poignantly obvious on a 3-day retreat where ladies arrive hunched with bags, internal and external, quietly signing in only to leave bouncy and light, carrying their external bags with delight upon exit,  They gave the Lord the internal junk and He lightened their loads.  

I chose to look at the weather not as a portend for something dangerously looming on the horizon of doom and destruction, but as a harbringer of what always has been:  a reliance on God.  None of us know, really, what's to happen with weather on any given day.  Sure, there are radars, forecasts, and speculations, but without the intervention of mechanical or man-made devices, there is no human who can tell me with all certainty that rain will drop at 5:34am at my home or that the sun will pop through the clouds at precisely 12:30pm over my porch. And no one can tell me with confident decisiveness how exactly the weather will shape my landscape, only God can know.  And He is the one I look to... and He says : Don't worry, I've got this.