UMBRELLA TIME

Someone suggested that if we are praying for rain, to truly demonstrate our FAITH we should carry an umbrella.

It's April! We don't have to pray for rain—God doesn't play April Fool jokes. He generously inundates us, whether we are "the just or the unjust," with refreshing showers. All we need to do is enjoy the season and literally go with the flow. This harbinger month of spring overflows with joyful anticipation as we await the “brings May flowers” part of the little child's rhyme. 

There is certainly simple and innocent happiness as we watch the raindrops awakening the daffodils, tulips, and jewel-like crocus. When I was a child, in April we hurried home after school, changed into our play clothes, and headed for the nearby woods to hunt for the first sightings of "spring beauties" and violets hiding shyly under the winter leaf blankets.

Yet the falling rain always seems to make me feel somewhat pensive. A dark overcast sky with gentle raindrops pattering on my roof and splashing in puddles on my driveway evokes conflicting emotions within me—I feel wistful, happy, yet sad, reflective, peaceful, and nostalgic all wrapped up with melancholy. I feel both restful and restless.

SKY TEARS

Why does the sky cry?

Is it for what has been and is no more?

Is it for what is not and never will be?

Is it for what will be but is delayed?

Does the sky cry from emptiness or fullness?

Or simply because in the cycle of seasons

it is time to cry?

The sky needs release and the thirsty ground

needs sky tears to soften the soil

and prepare for spring: the planting

sprouting, birth of life.

The weeping sky and the rejoicing earth

meet in expectancy for the certainty

of growth after the spring rain.

Why does my heart cry?

I don't know why. 
Perhaps for all the reasons

of the sky and earth combined

since I am part of that cycle of life and its seasons.

I seem to be always in transition, always in anticipation

always in passage to another stage.

I, too, cry from emptiness and from fullness

and for release. Sometimes wistfully looking backward

and then again pressing longingly forward.

Sometimes my tears are neither sad nor glad.

Perhaps my tears are the bridge between

the loving decrees of God for my life

those unknown episodes still beyond the horizon

and the thirst of my earth-heart to know what they are

and what the coming spring will bring

after the planting, after the sprouting

after the births of life 

that will come forth in me

ultimately
after my spring rain.

*****

The spiritual analogy of RAIN, however, makes my heart beat more quickly with joyful expectation. Seasons of refreshing! Not just abbreviated sprinkles but a deluge...

 RAIN ON ME!

Parched ground cracks

withered foliage droops

creatures groan and moan from thirst

with all creation I cry

Lord, have mercy

send the Latter Rain

Rain on me, Lord!

I hear the whisper of Your promise

of abundance of Rain

in the restless, rustling, dry tree tops

I smell it in the air

imagine it damp against my face

all earth is hushed in anticipation

as the distant rumble of thunder

heralds Your refreshment to come

Rain on me!

I stand vulnerable

face uplifted

bare skin longing

arid spirit crying

empty hands spreading

my soul thirsting

Rain on me!

Drench me!

soak me!

saturate me

with the Rain of Heaven!

not just "mercy drops"

nor "raindrops fallin' on my head"

not a drizzle or a sprinkle

but for the showers I plead

Rain on me!

Let the lightning split the sky

let the heavens open

let Your Spirit descend

to fill me

send a cloudburst from above

to inundate me

Rain on me!

Let the water rise, Lord

take me into Your flooded river

hands and face uplifted

bring me into the depths, Lord

wash Your waves over me

propel me wherever

Your swift current

wills to carry my soul

toward the Destiny

You've ordained for me

HOLY SPIRIT:RAIN ON ME!

 *****

Suddenly, or so it seems, all that was drab and dull and dismal of winter is transformed by the RAIN into GREEN!

GOD LIKES GREEN!

Obviously, GOD LIKES GREEN.
It must surely be
one of His favorite creation colors
not only for splendor and beauty

 but as a manifestation of life and growth:
"essential to production of carbohydrates
by photosynthesis."
It was God who thought up

that marvelous synthesis process
without which we could not live!

Look at the generous way
God lavishly splashes green around:
laying a verdant carpet for me to walk on
providing it for animals and man to eat
decorating trees with green in spring
displaying multi-hues of green foliage
keeping evergreens unchanged
to contrast with blankets
of white winter snow
embracing plants and flowers
with green leafy arms
that can climb walls of buildings
while providing lettuce and spinach
for my nourishment.

What a sense of humor God must have
to grow green veggies in whimsical shapes
like asparagus, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts
and swish green into seaweed
in the ocean while floating green watercress
in quiet, fresh streams!

Yes, GOD LIKES GREEN:
"The righteous will flourish and grow
into old age full of sap
and very GREEN"*
That means me!

Clothed in the righteousness of Christ
not in my own achievements
I should not be
like withered leaf and brown
but full of inner vitality
flowing from His dwelling in me
and I abiding in Him
flourishing like a green palm tree
bearing fruit in all seasons of my life.*

Since God is so partial to GREEN
then GREEN I aspire to be
full of Divine chlorophyll
to please Him joyfully!

*Psalm 92:12-15