Rain

I like the rain. As opposed to most people, it doesn't make me feel glum or grumpy. Maybe I like it because I've been deprived throughout the first 18 years of my life in California. But for some reason the rain makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, it makes me smile, even as it gets me soaking wet. For me, the rain is......beautiful.

This past Sunday Pastor Adam spoke about the trials and suffering we go through. Suffering, as much as we hate it, is the only way we can grow, we can learn, and we can be changed.

"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:3-5

Rain is like suffering. It can be harsh, gets everything wet, makes it difficult to walk, its altogether kind of annoying. And yet it is still beautiful. It's beautiful as it trickles down the window, as it makes the plants grow (as Christina would say), and afterwards, well sometimes there's a rainbow at the end of the storm.

We can't say we don't need the rain, because otherwise nothing would ever grow. And in the same way we can't say we don't need to suffer, because we wouldn't be able to grow. Christ suffered on the cross, and if he hadn't gone through that storm of life, well nothing would grow and there would be nothing to harvest.

So to me, rain is beautiful. Suffering is beautiful. We can't see it as we go through it, often because the rain drops blow into our eyes, and we get cold, wet, and uncomfortable. But after the skies clear we see the results of the storm. We see the rainbow at the end. And once again, everything is beautiful.