Rain

Water everywhere. Rain, rain, rain, every single day. First, it was kind of funny because it just fit in with this annus horribilis of 2020. I’ve tried to put a positive spin on it – green landscapes, hydrated skin, no forest fires, or drought. There was even a 30-day haiku challenge I joined and several of us wrote about our sodden summer. But enough is enough. The rest of the province is wearing shorts and spending time outdoors, it is too hot to go outside back East, but here in northwestern BC, I am checking for moss between my fingers and toes.

Somehow every single weekend for the past 15 weeks the rain has held off for our outdoor prayer meeting but on Aug. 15 it did not. We sat huddled under umbrellas and rain capes. Some of us had blankets or coats draped across our knees. Steadily the rain fell from the sky. We had not prayed for sunshine, only for a dry spell because didn’t want to be greedy. But maybe the rain was a test to see if we would persevere.

The water was a good reminder that we were praying for an outpouring of grace from the Holy Spirit. We do need to be filled on a regular basis because as ‘cracked vessels’ we leak! Someone also noted that a dry sponge doesn’t work well, to be used properly it needs to be soaked. And perhaps we were also learning a lesson. Not in a punitive way but maybe in our discomfort we would still find joy and it would produce endurance, character, and hope. Indeed, we did find joy!

As the meeting wound down it was remarked that someday we will talk about this exceptional summer and our blessed little prayer group. We will remember our joy in spending time with each other and with Jesus. We will mention the weather and how we sat outside - on purpose - to pray in the afternoon showers. We will look back and it will have become part of our story.