Rain
It’s just after 8:00am on this gray Saturday morning. My two oldest girls are at a church sleepover so the house is unusually quiet. All I hear is the drip of the coffee pot, the pecking of my fingers on the keyboard and the noise of my mind.
From where I sit at my computer desk I can look through a glass sliding door directly into the backyard of our house. My eyes scan back and forth looking at all the work I need to do. If only it weren’t raining. But with the rain also comes my rest. For I cannot go outside and work now, I must wait for better weather. It’s ironic, the rain nurturers the plants (and weeds) and causes them to grow, but it also hinders me from maintaining them.
My yard mocks me…
Oh how I wish my mind would be as quiet and peaceful as my house is. You would think with my kids away and the rain outside I would grab a good book or flip on the TV and just relax.
But there is unrest in my soul. There is work to be done.
Earlier this week, the sun was out. So I threw on my work shoes, went out to the shed and fired up the lawn mower. I started out on our little patch of grass in the front yard. As I went, I noticed it was a little warmer that it had been. But before I knew it, I was done. On to the back yard!
The grass in the back was a little higher than the front. And because of the shade of the surrounding cedar trees the grass was still wet from the previous night’s dew. I also noticed I had 3 new mole holes. My ambition left little by little as my mower and I entered into combat with perils of my back yard. I wished my day had been spent at rest.
It would seem that life can sometimes be like impatiently waiting for the rain to stop or yearning for a more relaxing, cooler day. In our eagerness to get out and make the yard beautiful we might take for granted those days of rain that bring the growth. When the rain does stop falling and the sun is out we grab our rake and the gas can and head out. Sometime during our work we gaze into the hot sun and wish it were a little cooler. Or when looking at the work ahead of us we grow weary and wish for rest. We wish for a day when we could just grab a good book or flip on the TV.
The writer of Ecclesiastes would most likely stand over us, put his hand on our shoulder, empathically smile and say, “For everything there is a season…” a season for the rain, for growth, rest and patience, and a season for sun, for action, labor, and accomplishment. Wisdom and contentment are found in making the most of whatever season we find ourselves in.
The wind is blowing outside. I don’t feel it on my face and don’t know where it has been or were it is going. I only know its there. The trees outside are gently blowing in time with the chorus of my wind chimes. There are times when I have felt the wind on my face and could have even told you what direction it was going. But not today. Today I trust it is blowing because of the effects of it and my experience of being in it.
With the wind comes my peace.
It's now half after 9:00 and I find myself now looking outside and enjoying all the shades of green and the buds on my magnolia bush.
Maybe I will grab that book…
Oh look, the rain has stopped.
From where I sit at my computer desk I can look through a glass sliding door directly into the backyard of our house. My eyes scan back and forth looking at all the work I need to do. If only it weren’t raining. But with the rain also comes my rest. For I cannot go outside and work now, I must wait for better weather. It’s ironic, the rain nurturers the plants (and weeds) and causes them to grow, but it also hinders me from maintaining them.
My yard mocks me…
Oh how I wish my mind would be as quiet and peaceful as my house is. You would think with my kids away and the rain outside I would grab a good book or flip on the TV and just relax.
But there is unrest in my soul. There is work to be done.
Earlier this week, the sun was out. So I threw on my work shoes, went out to the shed and fired up the lawn mower. I started out on our little patch of grass in the front yard. As I went, I noticed it was a little warmer that it had been. But before I knew it, I was done. On to the back yard!
The grass in the back was a little higher than the front. And because of the shade of the surrounding cedar trees the grass was still wet from the previous night’s dew. I also noticed I had 3 new mole holes. My ambition left little by little as my mower and I entered into combat with perils of my back yard. I wished my day had been spent at rest.
It would seem that life can sometimes be like impatiently waiting for the rain to stop or yearning for a more relaxing, cooler day. In our eagerness to get out and make the yard beautiful we might take for granted those days of rain that bring the growth. When the rain does stop falling and the sun is out we grab our rake and the gas can and head out. Sometime during our work we gaze into the hot sun and wish it were a little cooler. Or when looking at the work ahead of us we grow weary and wish for rest. We wish for a day when we could just grab a good book or flip on the TV.
The writer of Ecclesiastes would most likely stand over us, put his hand on our shoulder, empathically smile and say, “For everything there is a season…” a season for the rain, for growth, rest and patience, and a season for sun, for action, labor, and accomplishment. Wisdom and contentment are found in making the most of whatever season we find ourselves in.
The wind is blowing outside. I don’t feel it on my face and don’t know where it has been or were it is going. I only know its there. The trees outside are gently blowing in time with the chorus of my wind chimes. There are times when I have felt the wind on my face and could have even told you what direction it was going. But not today. Today I trust it is blowing because of the effects of it and my experience of being in it.
With the wind comes my peace.
It's now half after 9:00 and I find myself now looking outside and enjoying all the shades of green and the buds on my magnolia bush.
Maybe I will grab that book…
Oh look, the rain has stopped.
posted by Jason Wakefield at 10:51 AM
1 Comments:
Wow, you are so gifted. I loved reading that, I felt like I was there.
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