Get Wet

The rain has surely been plentiful in the northeast this June. According to the weather report last night it's the second rainiest June on record, the last being in 1914. I don't like to be caught in the rain. It's wet and I don't like getting wet when I'm supposed to be dry. My husband thinks it's the funniest thing that I don't like to get wet. I only like to get wet when I'm planning on getting wet like diving into a pool or taking a shower. Those are planned moments of drippyness. I don't like it when it's unplanned...like getting caught in a downpour or when the hose is leaking down my arm when I'm just trying to water my plants or wash the car in the driveway. Those times of unplanned wetness means more work for me: changing my clothes, drying and restyling my hair. It's a nuisance and to me, a waste of time.

However, I do like what rain produces when it pours down in consistent and right amounts. It produces mature, healthy, beautiful plants both for beauty and nourishment. I love that I've turned my desk to face the back yard this spring even though most days I've been peering out at rain. At least I've been able to enjoy a birds-eye-view of my flower gardens. It's been the only way to witness the blooming pink blossoms of my fairy roses and the greening of the butterfly and hydrangea bushes. I know that when the sun reappears (and it will) my eyes will be blessed with their full blooming color. My mouth will taste the harvest of flavors from my herbs and vegetables. The rain will have served its purpose to feed the land so that it may be a blessing to us.

Paul says in Hebrews 6:7-8 "Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But the land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned." We are the land that drinks in God's word so that we will be a blessing to those we serve; our family, our neighbors, our co-workers, strangers...anyone that enters our life. The key is that we must drink of the rain that falls. We must swallow (not just taste) a regular dose of God's word in order to produce God's crop of fruitfulness. If we don't drink we become a parched land that will only produce thorns and thistles which are useless in His kingdom.

I met a second grade teacher at an author's meeting last month. She's thinking of writing a book entitled "Are Your Prickles Showing?" or something like that. She tells the story of one of her students who normally is kind and very polite coming to class one day in a very bad mood. He took his mood out on everyone around him so she asked him, "Are your prickles showing today?" I thought what a great illustration of how we are when we take our bad mood out on those around us. It's like everything we say is sharp like a thorn and prickly like a thistle.

Are you a source of beauty and flavor to those around you? Or are your prickles showing? If the latter is true then it's time to get wet in God's word and let His words soak into the soil of your heart.