Rain

It’s the season for rain… daily rain and all-night downpours. Sudden heavy cloudbursts and steady, drizzling rain. There’s the constant background sound of falling rain, and the sky is dark and grey with low hanging cloud. The Kathmandu valley hills are but a memory, hidden behind their cloud shrouds. No one leaves home without an umbrella, because sooner or later, it will rain. Streets are awash with overflowing gutters, small lanes are slick with mud and slippery with moss encrusted brick pavers. 

Whilst heading to one hillside village on the weekend, it was necessary for me to walk a section where the road is subsiding down the cliff and the thick mud had ensnared a truck. Bikes could go through, with us pillion passengers trekking through the ooze. No one comments, we all just continue our journeys, (albeit a little more mud coated!) after all, it’s the season for rain. 

It rains. It’s quite refreshing. Valley summers are mostly cool, with moisture laden afternoon and evening breezes. I like the way our garden plants just seem to drink it all in. Leaves shiny wet and clean, everything keeps growing, nature knows how to take advantage of this seasonal rain bounty. Flowering plants vie for light and space, fruit is ripening on the trees and everything is soaked. Tiny weaver birds, wet feathers ruffled, sing as they survey their watery garden world. Our street view is softened by a grey rain curtain. Rain…

I like the ‘daily’ aspect of rainy season rain. Water wells are replenished, tanks full, food crops like rice, maize, cereal grains and vegetables are flourishing. All too soon, monsoon will come to an end and the rain will cease. The sunny season and the cold season will come, all necessary of course for the cycle of life and harvest and delightful in their own way, yet, there’s something wonderful about this time of rain… the way it just keeps coming, dropping from the sky, effortlessly. 

Jesus invites us all to come to him and drink. Drink from a person!? It would seem so. A heavenly invitation, to come, and keep coming, to drink deeply, long, often, daily. Not rain, but like rain. Refreshing, life giving, life sustaining, life changing, spiritual water. Not limited to one season, but on offer all year round. Jesus says, come and drink, freely. Drink in the comforts of his love and kindness, the power of his grace. Imbibe of his mercy, strength, and wisdom. Be encouraged by a long draft of acceptance and help. 

Daily rain. We drink by simply coming, asking, praying. Jesus is the well that never runs dry. How blessed we are to have heard about his offer to give this living water. To understand the simplicity, the practicality, the necessity for our life. Recently, when in the high mountains, we saw the tumbling clear spring fed headwaters of what becomes a mighty river. The flow… rain… drink it in. May this heavenly water clean and renew all the parched places in our hearts.