I stand for a moment and inhale deeply. I love the smell of the rain. I close my eyes and look skyward, letting the drops hit my face. And I am thankful.
The recent warm, sunny days have left me eagerly anticipating summer and hoping that the weather reports would be wrong when forecasting rain this week. Despite the fact that this winter has been so mild, I am ready for it to be over and dreading the thought of more cold and wet weather.
But I'm trying to learn to live in each moment and be thankful for what it brings; not always wishing the here and now away for what's going to come tomorrow.
So last night as I hurried to my car, I stopped in order to be fully present at that moment. To remember how very much I love the smell in the air as the rain first starts to fall, how I love the way the street lights dance and glimmer on the wet pavement, how each rain fall brings with it the promises of new growth and the washing away of the dirt and grime.
As I drove, the rain began to fall more quickly. I turned off the music and listened to the water rhythmically hit my car.
In the patterns of the rain, I saw a mirror of how God operates. He is always working to wash away the dirt in my life. Sometimes slowly and subtly, like a soft drizzle, and sometimes more directly and palpably like the downpour of a thunderstorm.
I may not always like it and there may even be periods where I fight it at every turn. Yet always after the rain comes growth. Because whether I yield to the process or fight against it, God loves me enough to not leave me where I am.
I am learning to humbly surrender to the Lord's refining; to stand in the rain with face lifted heavenward and be thankful that God is working in me.
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