Let it Rain

It has been hot here. Sweaty not wanting to move hot. Today though I have been reminded of one of the things I love about our summers. Monsoon season. This just means that it will rain a little bit most days.

Rain is different here. Don't get me wrong it is still wet and it can cause puddles, floods and lots of sticky mud. Usually we watch the clouds building up in the sky. There have been times that we literally travel with the rain when we go to Albuquerque or back to Gallup. It rains and stops, rains and stops, rains and stops and really it is the same storm that is moving in our same direction.

What I really love though are the rainbows. The sun can be shining brightly in the east and it is dark and stormy in the west or vica versa - then the drizzles and light rains refract the light causing the sky to be filled from end to end with a beautiful arching rainbow which is usually double as well. Some are so beautiful that is almost hurts to look at the shimmer and cold colors of the glistening arc.

I also love verga. I did not know this word until I moved to New Mexico. Verga is when you can see it raining in the distance. There are streaks of rain that you really can see but it never makes it to the ground. The rain literally dries before it gets to earth. It really is amazing.

I have saved the best of last - the smell. I am not sure I can describe it. It is a fresh tantalizing scent of clean dust, sagebrush, yarrow, and washed cotton. Even that does not do it justice. In the midwest rain carries the scent of grass and green and damp and is lovely in its own way. Rain here has more of the smell of life in it. The scent carries the sighs of the vegetation and animals that have become so sere that leaves, paws and atmosphere are prune -ish with lack of moisture. The scent of rain tells me that God has not forgotten the life in the desert and it is His promise of feeding creation.

In a place that gets only gets a few inches annually rain is life and I think is our sign of God's love and care. Perhaps the is the essence in the rain that I cannot quite describe - God 's love. All I know is that no candle, air freshener or soap will ever be able to duplicate it. There is no scent that is bottled that contains God's love. It is simply there for the taking and provides life. Like the rain in the desert - makes life sweeter, cleaner and life enhancing. Let God rain on you with His living water. Even the desert comes alive with God's water.