Artwork by Jennifer Clark Tinker
Watercolor with gel pen
It has been cold, wet, and rainy all day. And I keep telling myself not to complain because we need the rain.
It was only a few months ago I was fretting about drought conditions, worrying that we weren’t getting the rain we so desperately needed!
So, all day as I have shivered to the bone–I mean, to the bone, people–I have tried not to curse this cold, wet, much-needed rain.
I did complain a while about being cold at lunch out with my husband and son, but I was careful not to curse the rain itself.
“Mom, you really should bundle up more,” was my son’s unsympathetic reply.
I muttered something about not having a warm enough coat, but I did not curse the rain.
Out again into the rain to get into my car, I shivered yet again. Still I did not curse the rain. I blasted the heater as soon as I got my car running, hoping it would warm up noticeably on my way home.
Turning into my driveway, the rain continued its steady downfall. I braced myself for the moment when I would have to quickly gather my belongings and run into my home, trying keep as dry and warm as possible in that transition from car to house.
Then I looked up toward the bend in the driveway and I saw water streaming around the bend from up by the house. I wanted to curse, not the rain, but the gravel driveway that has ruts worn as river-beds.
My gravel driveway with “ruts worn as river-beds”
Photo by Jennifer Clark Tinker
But then, the word of the the Lord came unto me. A verse of a Psalm sprang to mind:
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High. –Psalm 46:4
These streams of rain are glad tidings for our drought-recovering lands!
And so, my heart was turned from barely holding back curses, to delight. I sat back and laughed at my fickleness about rain–wanting it when I’m scared of drought but cursing it when it gets inconvenient for me.
I laughed at my shivering and my complaining. And I chose gladness instead.
Rain, I know you don’t need my approval. What else can I say, rain, but that I am glad for you streaming here this day.
Jennifer Clark Tinker 