Listening to the sound of rain is probably my favorite way to wake up. It’s just so relaxing in a way that only nature can be. The way the rain hits the glass of the window and the light pole outside, the concrete sidewalk and the minivan parked next to the curb is relentless, peaceful and gentle.
The way the air is filled with a smell of fresh, new times and memories of old times, brings me back to Monday mornings in elementary school. Maybe you can recall those mornings where you lie half-awake deciding whether or not to try and trick your mother into letting you stay home from school just so you can lie there a little bit longer before getting out of bed.
There is a certain temperature and feeling that is always present during a morning of rain, no matter what season it is and what the temperature actually is outside. It’s cold enough to make you curl into a tiny ball under your comforter but not too cold as you need to get up and get another blanket. I suppose if it were cold enough to the point of getting another blanket, you wouldn’t get one for fear of when you climb back into bed the rain wouldn’t sound the same or the air wouldn’t smell the same or it just wouldn’t feel right.
So you sit there and enjoy this time of perfection and the whole thing has a sort of Jack Johnson song-feel to it—you wait for your banana pancakes, and then it ends. Someone turns on the radio in the bathroom or talks a little to loudly or your alarm clock goes off, and you realize that you can’t sit in bed anymore because you are late to class or work or you need to drop your kids off at school. The reality that is life sets in.
You crawl out of bed and get yourself ready for the day as quickly as you can because you are already late. Instead of banana pancakes you file through the local coffee house and get your holy grail of coffee with a double shot of espresso a hint of vanilla and a half inch of whipped cream to top it off. Rushing here and there and everywhere, as Dr. Seuss would probably say and never really being here—never being in the moment, caught up in the excitement, in the wonder of now.
We miss a lot of what God has planned for us, what He has in store for us, because we are always thinking about what’s next and how we are going to fit something else into our schedule. We cram all this stuff into our lives that we think will make us happy, and we move so fast from one thing to another that we miss the simple things of life. The simple little things that are so subtle but so beautifully wonderful are drowned out by the complex comings and goings of our modern lives.
That’s why God gives us rainy mornings, times when we can sit and be amazed by the little things that happen all around us. These rainy mornings don’t always have to be prompted by God; you could have one right now. You could stop reading right now, and you could have a rainy morning right where you are sitting, rain or shine, morning or night.
Dig Deeper
2 Corinthians 13:11
Hebrews 12:28-29
