Raining Blessings

I woke up to the sound of rain falling on the skylights in my bathroom.
I love the sound of a spring rain.
I love the promise of new life that I know the rains will bring.
The day was gray without a hint of sunshine.

The sound of the rain is a welcome melody.
The sound of the rain on the roof is the natural percussion of spring.
Instead of being dreary, I found the rain to be very pleasant.
Instead of wanting to pull the covers back over my head, I wanted to begin the day.

I remember another spring rain.
However this spring rain fell in the evening.
The sound of the rain beckoned me.
It seemed to call me outside.

I was just beginning to date the man who would be my husband.
It was 1976, our junior year in high school.
Our marriage would be five years away.
We would be married the October after our college graduation.

I had seen the movies.
I had listened to the James Taylor and Art Garfunkel song, Crying in the Rain.
Why walk in the spring rain all by myself?
Why not walk with someone I cared about very much?

He came over to see me, dodging the raindrops as he came to my front door.
I had no idea what he had planned for that lovely spring night.
But I knew what I wanted to do.
I wanted to walk in the rain.

I wanted to stroll down the street under a big umbrella.
I wanted to walk arm in arm and hear the raindrops above us.
I wanted to see the street glisten and maybe jump into a few puddles.
I wanted to walk in the rain with the moon shining above us.

You want to what? He asked incredulously thinking I was joking.
I want to take a walk in the rain, I said not willing to budge an inch on my idea.
It’s funny the things you do when you are dating.
It’s funny the things you do when you are young and don’t know any better.

We set out.
I got the large umbrella from the garage.
I was ready for my “just like the movies” walk in the rain.
I was ready for a sweet memory as he protected me from the rain drops.

The rain that was a lightly falling spring rain suddenly became a downpour.
The leisurely stroll became a mad dash as we headed towards my house.
The cute outfit that I chose to wear was now wet and uncomfortable.
But the worst of it was my shoes.

It was the late 70s and the shoes I wore were very much in style.
They were moccasins with fringe hanging down around the ankles.
They were the perfect 70s thing to wear with jeans.
They were the worst possible thing you could wear in the rain.

I knew my feet were wet.
We were jumping in puddles, not for fun but rather out of necessity.
My feet were soaked by the time I got home.
I immediately took off my shoes.

It looked as if my moccasins were still on my feet.
My shoes were off but my feet were brown.
The dye from the moccasins had colored my feet a horrible shade of brown.
I wanted to cry; the night had not turned out the way I wanted.

The night that was to be innocently romantic, just like the movies, was a terrible mistake.
The stroll became a mad dash towards the nice dry house that awaited us.
The conversation that was to have happened under the umbrella never took place.
Instead there were the obvious statements like, I’m getting soaked, and Run faster.

My “just like the movies” kind of night was a disaster.
He went home, since there was no way he would sit in wet clothes all evening.
I was determined to scrub the brown dye off my feet.
It took me quite a long time to get my feet back to their normal color.

The tears fell out of frustration and disappointment.
What had gone wrong?
A walk in the rain was always perfect in the movies.
In the movies the rain was light, the clothes were dry, and the shoes were always stylish.

But this was not the movies.
This was real life where rain comes down in pellets and tends to fall sideways at the worst time.
This is real life where umbrellas are never big enough and the moon goes behind a cloud.
This is real life with all of its unrealistic expectations and inevitable disappointments.

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

Perfection belongs to God alone.
We often strive for the unattainable.
We expect our homes and our relationships to look like the movies.
We are disappointed.

We don’t live on a sound stage, we live in real life.
We live in a world where there are mishaps, thunderstorms, dyed feet, and wet clothes.
We live in an imperfect, fallen world.
We run ourselves ragged trying so hard to make our life perfect or make it look perfect.

We expect perfection in ourselves and in other people.
We have a list of unrealistic expectations.
We strive for the unattainable.
We forget that there is a type of perfection that is possible to attain.

God’s Word tells us to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect.
Without Jesus as our example and the Holy Spirit as our guide, this would be impossible.
However, as a believer in Christ, we are sanctified everyday.
We are being made holy; we are being made more like Jesus.

Jesus is the only One who can wash the dye of this sin tainted world off our feet.
Jesus is the only One who can protect us from life’s storms.
The storms will still come, but we are safe with Him under the umbrella of His wings.
We cry out to Him; He rains down blessings in disguise.

He rains down righteousness.
He rains down holiness.
He rains down forgiveness.
He rains down loving kindness.

Father, make us holy.
Make us more like Jesus.
Help us remember that we live in a fallen, imperfect world.
Lord Jesus, we long for the day when You will come back again and restore all things. 

Let it rain.
Open Your floodgates, Lord.
Turn our hearts away from ourselves and turn them towards You, the only perfect One.
Rain down Your Spirit on this dry and barren land.

Help us accept our imperfections.
Help us smile through our mishaps.
Help us treasure the absurdity of our memories.
Enable us to rejoice in the blessings that You shower down on us each day.

Postscript:
I reminded my husband of our walk in the rain all those years ago.
He laughed!
Oh, how he laughed!