The Symphony of HIS Love

This morning, the rain began to come down in sheets.  We have a metal rooftop, so it was obvious that the sky had opened to moisten the ground.  I opened some windows and doors.  Without gutters on a two-story house, the view out the front door literally had become a curtain of water.  I went out and took a deep breath of the watery perfume...so good and refreshing. 

I had to have more of this.  I went out my garage and a little into the driveway.  I stood and watched.  The yard was already full of water, and streams were running down the hill and joining together to race down the driveway, the mud color telling me they were taking part of my yard with them.  So much water...and all at once.  The most pleasant sight was the rain itself falling from the sky.  Gorgeous drops of rain clung to everything, adorning anything it touched.  Even our old, rusty basketball hoop became attractive with the clear beads woven throughout.  I smiled.

The sounds of the rain storm drew me in to listen...and listen.  Although it is winter, I could hear the rain dancing on leaves.  It became apparent that the sound was coming from the water dancing on the piles and acres of dry leaves on the ground.  Even though the rain was louder hitting the hard driveway, it was the pleasant sound of the rain dance in the leaves that was much like the experience of a water slide to my soul.  The birds began to sing and chirp their various songs.  The sound of the trails of water down the hill evoked the picture of the mountain stream in the Rockies.  All at once, I realized that I was listening to rain's symphony. A most spectacular sound, so refreshing and enveloping.

^"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8 KJV)  "This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God." (I John 4:9-10 MSG)

HOW much more is His love towards us.  The dry leaves made me think of the beauty HE must hear when we allow His love to fall and drench the dry areas of our soul...a beautiful music it makes.  After the rain, the pile of dry leaves are more ready to decompose, to become part of the nutrients of the soil.  I so want the dry areas of my soil to soak in His love that He pours out daily upon me.  That musical sound spurs me on to surrender every area to His love and pleasure.  I wonder what He can make of them.

I think of the same pile of leaves under a tarp.  It stays in its mounded shape, and it gets stale and musty over time.  Even the plastic begins to release its toxic odor.  The leaves decompose, but they do so much more slowly...all the while releasing and trapping the smells of the bacterial stench.  I would so much rather have the Father pour His sweet rain on me.  Lord, forgive me for holding the tarp over the areas you long to drench.  Let it rain today.

What is your thought of the rain storm as it relates to God's love?

Just a Blueberry: A Lesson In Perspective

"Rocket Man" is a very silly movie that I find very funny and entertaining.  In the movie, there is a mission to Mars.  As I was setting my mind to have the proper perspective of a difficult situation, I was reminded of this movie.

In the midst of being very distracted by a mess he has made during the journey thus far, someone gets the main character's attention and tells him to look out the window.  The crew has been sleeping for months as they traveled out into space, and then they look out to see the view of Earth.  It is beautiful and looks so very small from their perspective - beyond where any man has traveled thus far.  After a moment of awe and silence, the main character makes a statement that the Earth looks like a blueberry from way up where they are seeing it.  I was reminded this week that much depends on my current perspective of a situation. 

Lately I have ...shall we say had some struggles to face.  There are people who look me full in the face and tell me things could turn out rather sour.  "But GOD" as someone I love very much says so often.  This past year the Lord has spoken to me about rising out and above circumstances and old thinking patterns.  He gave me the example of a rocket, thrusting off the ground and into space.  As I was placing items at His feet this week, I began to see a fuller picture.  It is not just about rising off the ground, it is about the level of trust and peace and surrender - the leaving of the gravity behind!  I actually was able to taste this sensational power and peace this last week. 

When we stand in the dirt of something and look around at the horizon and see no end to it, it CAN seem rather huge and endless.  Some of us may even wallow in it and get ourselves all dirty.  But what if we got on that rocket of direction and allowed trust and peace to lift us off the ground.  We would feel the distance between us and the dirt at that point.  Let's say we continued into space.  As we passed through the layers of the atmosphere, we would soon find ourselves in space and realize we felt weightless.  That is putting it in God's hands and letting the let-go-of-the-worry distance us from dirty circumstances.  Think about that a moment!  I did this week.  It was so very freeing.  "...Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us..." (Hebrews 12:1 KJV)