Rain and Me

This day of spring thunder and rain brings back memories, and causes me to reflect a bit, on rain and me.  That relationship has evolved over the years.

As a little girl, I loved the rain, like a duck or a sponge, and wanted to absorb
as much of it as I possibly could, soaking into me.
I sought it out for pleasure and for fun.

But a thunderstorm in the deep south is nothing like
a New York rain.  There, it comes in the midst of heat and humidity and is more like taking a warm shower, never cold.

Later in life, in 1981 to be exact, I was the "victim" of a
severe flood which pretty much destroyed most of my
worldly goods and made its way four feet high in my living room.  It was a hard time.  But also a good time.  It was when the rains blew Gerry into my life, who remains to this day. For a while, I marked my life BF and AF, meaning before the flood and after the flood.

For a long time after that event, the sound of hard rain on the roof would stir up fear and anxiety.  I was lucky to have escaped alive, to be honest, in the flood of 1981.

Now, I no longer have a fear reaction to rain, and rarely think of that flood long ago.  Today's sound of thunder and severe rainstorms reminds me of other times, but does not frighten me.


I think I have a greater fear of drought than of rain.  I'd rather live in a rainy area than arid one.  Now, I am more likely to think of rain in terms of watering the garden, and the flowers and the trees.   Long gone are the days of the rain watering me.  And no longer do I think of the rain filling my house.  Instead, I look forward to the vegetation that it makes possible.  I think of it as life giving.

The evolution of water in my own life is somewhat akin to that in scripture.  In the beginning, God's spirit swept across the waters and brought forth life and light. Then when God was displeased,  the waters of the flood wiped out all that was evil, and started all over. In time, God provides the Word,  to quench our spiritual thirst, being born again.  That Word lives in me.