Drinking It In

Thanksgiving Gratitude Edition

Guest Writer - Kathy Legg

Land that drinks in rain often falling on it and produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. Hebrews 6:7

I live in a semi-arid zone, where rain does not often fall. And when it does the hard dry clay soil may not be well able to drink it in! It pools and puddles on the surface, or runs off in rivulets.

But in early May when the land has been softened up by melting winter snows, and gentle rains have transformed the landscape from its winter-weary drab to a fresh eye-gladdening green, new shoots of life show up everywhere. Kids don yellow rubber boots and go out puddle-splashing. Drink in the rain? You betcha! It’s a joy. Promising. So very welcome.

But I know there’s another side to rain -- rain as disappointment, dampener of hopes, drowner of dreams, spoiler of picnics and parades. And where it often falls it’s more likely to be cursed than celebrated. Spirit-dampening, blotting up all color, turning the

world a dreary unrelenting grey, pulling people into gloomy curl-up-and-cocoon mode.

Oftentimes, rainfall seems far more punishment than promise. Definitely not a blessing! Consumed with our antagonism to it, we forget all the goodness it brings forth. We forget that in the end there will be something to celebrate, great joyous puddles to splash in.

At a particularly rain-drenched period of my life, when it seemed each day brought fresh uncertainty, disappointment, confusion, and grief, a depressive lethargy began to permeate my spirit. It was then that the Word of the Lord came to me at the end of a table grace, when our youngest son exuberantly raised both hands to the heavens and sang out Amen Amen. Of course, he was enthusing about permission to dig in to dinner.

But within me, unmistakably, I heard: “That’s what I want from you — an Amen, Amen! — no more half hearted, sighing, foot-dragging 'if-I-have-to' Amens to what life brings, but a single-minded, full-throated, double-barrelled, rollicking, believing, trusting, celebrating Amen Amen! In the strangely inverse way the kingdom of God works, that’s what my own heart most needed in order to heal.

So drink it in -- all of it: drink in sorrow; drink in sadness; drink in disappointment; drink in lost dreams; all of this will be redeemed. And drink in joy; drink in hope; drink in love and promise. Drink in God.

Prayer:
Oh Lord, make my life become land that eagerly drinks in whatever rain you choose to let fall. Make my heart a jubilant puddle splasher, confident that you will produce a crop useful to those for whom my life is farmed — and give me eyes to see the blessing you bestow upon me in the process. Amen Amen.

Photo Sources:
Rubber boots - The Daily Green
Umbrella - Cats 'n Cats
Happy Kid - Team Snap