What's the saying? "Rain, Rain, go away, come back another day!" There's probably
nothing more despairing and miserable than a drizzly, nasty, and rainy day.
Who likes rain anyway? I guess no one, except for instances in a desert or summer heat spell. In those cases, we have all seen on TV, or perhaps have experienced ourselves, when the dry summer heat is broken by the cool winds of a downpouring rain. The Caribbean climate enjoys these periodic showers of rain that sweep into an area- leaving just as rapidly as it came- drenching everything in its path. Oh, how refreshing rain can often be! As children, (or even as adults), we would often run wildly through the puddles, jumping forcefully, allowing the rain and water to pour over our heads and into our eyes. Soaked as we can become, there still exists this childlike enjoyment of a refreshing, rinsing rain.
Because rain and water can become cathartic, in its departure we are left rejoicing in its arrival and longing for its return. My particular favorite commercial is the Nestea ad, when people 'take the Nestea plunge' by falling straight back into a pool of water. Or perhaps, you have felt a tropical waterfall that pours and floods over your head. A mystical and magically superb sensation can overwhelm us as you delve into the waterfall's current.
I guess it all depends on one's context and circumstance if a torrential
rain is to be enjoyed or despised. Within a human context, we are constantly
in need of a rain of grace and blessing. During the heat of our days, we
thirst and long for a release of the guilt and condemnation that can rot on
our consciences. Costly choices and deadly decisions haunt our memories and
plague our conscience. When we attend church or approach God in prayer,
unworthiness and moral exposure blocks and blind us from God's raining presence.
How refreshing it is to know that through the work of Jesus' death and resurrection we can "draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water" (Heb. 10:22).
May God's grace and love sprinkle, shower, wash, and flash flood your soul. May God's rains of blessing and cleansing pour over your sun-scorched soul- sweeping away your guilt and condemnation- refreshing, revitalizing, and resaturating your body and soul. May you take the Nestea plunge into God's Spirit- allowing God to surround you with pure water.