I love the Rain the Most, When it Stops.

I hear the musician Joe Purdy's rough and fluidly folksy voice sing in my head "I love the rain the most..when it stops" as I glance out the window to a landscape masked by rain drops on glass, mother nature's mosaic of tears. I don't necessarily mind rain- it is essential. But this rain is insistent on bringing spirits down of all the people it falls upon like a thick blanket that suffocates hope. It has been raining for over two weeks now, almost non-stop, and I am tired of my feet soaking in mud puddles and my pant legs dripping. I do roll them at the bottom, but I think the rain and my jeans have a pact and somehow they unroll and gets wet anyways.

We have a lot of spiritual rain, whether you love Jesus or not. We were given souls that are totally out of our scientific minds to grasp. Psychologists try understanding how we are "feeling" by theories and formulas based on our behavior... but the soul is so complex that it is as unpredictable as rain. I think the weather man is the only person on earth that can make 75% mistakes on the job, and not be fired. Its hard to predict whether or not God decides to shower us or bring us sunlight, and I think it is a parallel at how He works and also, since we are in His image, how we work.

I just attended a conference in Aurora called "Story". The majority of the speakers spoke on how pain is essential to our story. Don Miller said something about how conflict in our story, our life, is what grows us and makes us stronger- brings Glory to God. Conflict is good. In scripture, one of my favorite passages is Romans 12:12, where Paul calls us to "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer". He knows, because God knows, that affliction is inevitable, so be patient and while we wait patiently, be joyful that hope is near.. and faithfully await its arrival. Faithfully await the sunshine. The sun is not appreciated until the rain and clouds block it out for days. Just as we would not appreciate Jesus' sacrifice if we didn't go through so much pain that we needed to be redeemed by His atoning blood.

So yes, I love the rain the most.. when it stops, because that is when I grow and feel the joy of Jesus helping us to overcome the trials and pain that we had felt for so long. Just as a flower must have both rain and sun, so must I. No psychologist or scientist can predict when our soul will discover this truth. Just as we can not predict what God will call us to do next... but whether it be rain or shine, conflict or contentment, depression or joy... we patiently await the sun.