Rainy Season

Rain.

It is often thought of as life-giving, renewing, cleansing.

But if I have learned anything during this wet season in Lesotho, it's that rain brings up a lot of dirt.

With each storm we get here, our sidewalks and back walkways get covered in mud, slime, and filth. Our ponds overflow, the weeds grow high, and our lawn turns to mush.

As I sat on our front steps and watched the rain come down this morning, these were the thoughts running through my head. 

Just as these few summer months in Lesotho are rainy and wet, God brings us through seasons of cloud and storm. And just with the rain, it is exciting and thrilling at first. The power of the storm makes you cozy up inside, letting you be still. But after awhile, we begin to get restless. We feel trapped and claustrophobic. I think when we are in seasons of spiritual rain, this fact is the same. We welcome the quiet time, but then get uncomfortable to be stuck in the stillness. We see things around us getting weedy, mushy, dirty. Our clean paths suddenly become slimy, and we have to navigate new routes because our normal ones are flooded. 

Nobody wants the dirt of their life to be brought to the surface. We want the lawns of our lives to be well-manicured, the path before us clean, dry, and sure. We want a little rain shower here and there to make our flowers grow, but we have no desire for a flooded, mushy swamp. Yet these are the moments that God seems to transform our hearts.

Some storms in our lives make us feel so trapped that we will find any excuse to get out. But when we step out the front door, we realize the paths we are so used to have become a pond, and God forces us to choose a different way. 

Some seasons reveal the weeds in our lives, the outside things that keep our flowers, our faith, from blooming. We see how far they have spread, and we are shown exactly where we need to mow, to cut out the things that hinder us from our full potential in Christ.

Still other seasons just bring up a lot of dirt. These seasons don't force you to find a new route, they don't show you the outside obstacles in your faith. Instead, they show you the things you have covered up with grass, the deeply buried sin, the filth. This may be the most difficult season of all.

When our paths get flooded, we have the joy of discovering the new one God has intended for us. When our yard springs up with weeds, we get to remove them and watch our flowers grow. Though the path may be longer and the weeds tricky to get out, both end in something new, something better.

But in the seasons of mud and dirt, it seems to just stick there. The sun comes out, our paths are dry and we can get rid of the weeds, but the dirt stays there on the sidewalk. It gets stepped on and finds its way into the cracks and settles when the water soaks up. We can try to sweep it away, but we end up just spreading it around. It sticks to our feet and we start to track it inside the house.

Yet this cannot be the end. As I sat on my front porch, I knew there had to be something that got rid of the dirt. I thought long and hard. I thought through the flooding, I thought through the weeds, but I knew the dirt stayed, even when everything else was dry again.

In Lesotho, the only thing that gets rid of the filth is wind. It may be a soft breeze that gently blows the dirt away, or it may come in big gusts that quickly pick it up and sweep it off.

In the Bible, the Hebrew word used for wind is often the same as the word for Spirit: ruach. So as it is with the physical dirt on our sidewalks at Beautiful Gate, the ruach is the only thing that can remove the dirt in our lives. It may come gently, or it may come in a mighty gust, but it comes on its own accord. We cannot get rid of the dirt ourselves, and we cannot force the wind to come, but in the right season, God sends the ruach into our lives and removes the filth and dirt.

I don't know what the weather is like in your life. I don't know if you can hear the thunder in the distance, if it's right above your house, or if the sun has come out again to dry up all the water. But wherever the storm is or has been, take a look at your lawn. 

Is God asking you to seek out a new path? Pursue it with a spirit of adventure and discovery, taking joy in knowing it has been marked out by Him.

Is He revealing the weeds you need to pull? Dig them all out and watch the beauty of obedience blossom.

Is He uncovering your filth? Rest assured that His wind has come, and worship Him for His gracious and complete cleansing.

Friends, may you see beauty in the rain God sends in your life (and keep your eyes open for the rainbows too).