Cleansing Rain

I love the smell of rain in the air. There is nothing quite like that smell.

I stand there and I feel the winds begin to shift and stir and I see the clouds rolling in. Sometimes they roll in gently and softly and sometimes they roll in like a giant locomotive. I don't even care which way they roll in as long as they roll in.

I walked around yesterday in an old field and I was noticing how the ground was hard and dry and the dust was beginning to cake on everything the way it does when it has been a while since it rained. Everytime I took a step, a small cloud of dust would rise from the ground as if to reach and grasp my foot to gain it's attention. I walked to the edge of the field and saw where the dry dusty trail led out into the pasture. It was quiet and I thought of the rain that would come. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but I knew that it would come.


The rain has always come. It has not always come as we wanted or as we beckoned it to, but without fail it has always come.

Then, to our dismay, we are suddenly in a new world. The dust has settled the air is fresh and crisp. The flowers and trees have all been washed by the hand of their maker. For a moment, we see things in a whole new light, then the process begins all over again and once again we find ourselves waiting for that cleansing rain.

As I grow older, sometimes I find myself much like that old dry field in need of the rain. It is hard to explain how we feel sometimes and that is what I like about this blog. I do not have to explain it or defend it. I simply am allowed to voice what might otherwise lay silent in my heart. I need that cleansing rain so often in my life. I wait and wait thinking is it today that it comes? Is it tomorrow? Is it next week?

We all face situations and challenges in our lives that dry up our spirit and our passion. It is that cleansing rain that periodically falls upon each of us that allows us to seize the freshness that it brings and to move on toward the goal before us, whatever that might be to me or to you.

These are all random thoughts brought about by a beautiful autumn shower following a quiet walk in the grass. Enjoy the freshness of the rain while it lasts and long for its awakening return.

Do You Ever....

... go for a walk in the early morning while all is quiet and dark?

... look at the stars and get lost in their vastness?

... sit in the late summer evening and listen to the locust sing?

... listen to the trees as the wind soflty caresses their leaves?

... watch the ocean as the tide gently rolls in and out?

... smell the air as the summer rain clouds begin to build?

... see the lightning flash as it rolls through the clouds?

... marvel at the rainbow as the storm subsides and rolls away?

... whisper in the wind as you feel the season begin to change?

... miss the days that have slipped away and are gone forever?

... look in the mirror and say who are you?

... wonder why God is so quiet at times in your life?

Do you? Do you ever?