Rain

This morning in my letter to Isaac, I told him how it is raining today. And then I told him that we needed the rain. What I meant was that the plants and the grass needed the rain because they have been having a hard time without it. I think God had a different intention about what He wanted me to hear and to know through those words this morning.

On my way in to work this morning, I thought about the rain... I thought about how wilted and withered things look without it, and about how the rain plays a huge role in allowing the grass, flowers, and trees to be vibrant and full of life.

And then I thought about how our hearts our so much like that.

Sometimes the rains come in a peaceful way... its touch gently affecting everything and bringing it life. In our lives, sometimes the rains are like that... almost cleansing in a way... refreshing.

Other times the rains come in full-force, harsh and chaotic. They can do a lot of destruction. I remember (stupidly) driving home last year in a thunderstorm and having to pull over because I couldn't see what was in front of me. Branches were falling off trees, and I am lucky one didn't go through my windshield. Some storms of life are like that, too... they feel chaotic and seem impossible to navigate. Yet somehow, on the other side, order is restored and beauty revealed.

That's so much where I feel like we are right now. In the midst of heavy rains and harsh winds, things flying at us from every direction, and often not able to see but two inches in front of us.

I think of all sorts of passages in scripture where rains and storms are mentioned... like Noah and the flood, with Jesus and his disciples in the boat when He calms the storm. A passage I was drawn to this morning as I was thinking about all of this has nothing to do with a storm though. It comes from 2 Corinthians 4, verses 7-9 and then 16-18:

7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

So often I feel hard pressed, perplexed by the contradictions of our circumstances with who I know my Jesus to be, and often struck down by feelings of frustration, sadness, and sometimes even hopelessness. But I know that God doesn't abandon us even in the times we may feel as though he's silent, and I know that even though we may feel struck down, that we are not destroyed.

I don't know that I feel as though our troubles are light; in fact, I feel as though our burden is heavy. But I know that what I can see in front of me is temporary, and that the work that God is doing through Isaac's life and his story is eternal.

What a gift to know that my son is making an impact on eternity.