Rain
Is Grace
“Rain
is grace; rain is the sky descending to earth; without rain there would be no
life.”
John
Updike
This
summer has been consistently hot. In Birmingham, we’ve had about 8 weeks of 90+
temperatures and very little rain. When the rain comes, it is hard and short
lived; yet still cause for gratitude. I look at the map of the US and see that
the midsection is under water, the southwest is on fire and almost out of
water, and rest of the country is sweltering. Are we ready to “believe in”
global warming yet?
The
storms we’ve had in the past few weeks have been accompanied by fierce lightening
and thunder. I’m reminded of a dream I had just before my husband and I separated.
In the dream, I am standing at a window (like the ones in air traffic control
rooms) above the ocean. I’m aware of being at Block Island, though there is no
such structure there. As I watch, a storm front approaches from the mainland. It
forms a solid squall line that covers the horizon, with streaks of lightening dropping
from it, and the ocean beneath turning to charcoal gray chop. Someone comes up
beside me and says in a soft voice, “A storm is coming, a bad one, but don’t
worry. There is a room down below with windows that cannot break. You will be
safe there.” I turned and went with the person.
Sometimes
we have storms in our lives, some brief but mighty, some so long-lasting that they
swamp our world. It’s good to remember that there is an impenetrable room
within where the answers reside, where we can ride out the storm in safety. I
think of Mary Oliver’s beautiful poem, “Wild Geese,” in which she describes
the rain like this: “Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain/
are moving across the landscapes/ over the prairies and the deep trees/ the
mountains and the rivers…” When there is rain, the earth and the sky meet
and provide life. We may experience being swamped or have what feels like piles
of debris crashing into us. We may temporarily be knocked down and need help to
get back on our feet. And that too is a gift of grace. Johnathan Lockwood Huie
put it this way: “Give thanks for the rain in your life which waters the
flowers of your soul.”
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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