There’s something about a thunderstorm – like the one we had last night – the extraordinary winds tearing at trees, the sudden onslaught of rain, then the claps of thunder and flashes of lightening, morphing into electrical storms and flashes in the sky. No wonder the ancients not understanding their origin attributed them to God.
Even we moderns are in awe of the power of a storm. When we are troubled and in deep doubt, we use the metaphor of storms. We talk of storm clouds coming over our lives, and of silver linings behind the clouds.
As the thunder dissipates we can hear the soft rain, the gift of water, softening the earth and not just the top six to eight inches or so, but deep into the earth. A longer soft rain is better for the farmer, the gardener, and the soil than a hard and fast rain that often just runs off, much like our relationship with God.
Prayer for the Day
Gently, like the falling rain, you enter our hearts, O Lord,
And the its coolness relieves us from the heat of the day;
Softly, we feel the touch of your Presence, O Lord,
As the soft breezes following the storm waft about us.
Grant, O Merciful One, that are soft and gentle with the world
And extend your grace as it has been given to us.
In the name of him who is the instrument of your grace,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
You cannot touch the clouds, you know; but you feel the rain and know how glad the flowers and the thirsty earth are to have it after a hot day. You cannot touch love either; but you feel the sweetness that it pours into everything.
Helen Keller, American activist for disability rights (1880-1968)
Tears of joy are like the summer rain drops pierced by sunbeams.
Hosea Ballou, American theologian (1771-1852)
For as the rain and snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there until they have watered the earth,
Making it bring forth and sprout giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
It shall not return to me empty,
But it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
And succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55: 10-11