Today’s word is rain because, well, it’s raining. I’m up early this morning after a late night out with my band, and I’m sitting in my favorite chair next to an open door. The early morning breeze is cool and a gentle rain has been falling for the past hour or so. Off in the distance thunder rumbles. This rain, hitting off the deck outside the door and splashing noiselessly into the thirsty earth, today speaks to me of prayer and the presence of God.
St. Ignatius once described our interaction with the Spirit as “lightly and gently, like a drop of water that enters into a sponge.” Think of the gentleness of that; it’s barely noticeable until we are filled. Without the Spirit, we are an empty shell of being, dry and useless, just taking up space. But when we open ourselves to the Spirit, when we set ourselves out in the rain, so to speak, we can be filled, inundated, inebriated even by the gentle yet powerful presence of God. Then we become more that we could ever become on our own, filled with joy and purpose and ready to serve others.
Ask yourself in silence: Do I make time to “set myself out in the rain?” Am I willing to empty myself of my own desires in order to be filled by the Spirit of God?
Oh how I love the rain! That clean, sweet smell; the soft, almost comforting feel; and the vivid brightness of color that surrounds us following a good soaking rain! Like the earth, when we are dry, we sure do need the Spirit’s rain, soaking in one drop at a time, to bring us back to clarity of purpose, with a refreshed sense of the beauty all around us.
I look forward to your writing every day, Steve! Thanks so much.
God bless your work.
Kathleen
I love the rain. I will think nothing of ‘walking in the rain’ and getting drenched to the skin and looking like a pathetic drowned rat. Quite often when I am caught in a sudden downpour, I will walk leisurely to my car amidst the many stares I get which seem to say ‘this woman must be out of her mind!’
What a beautiful comparison “lightly & gently, like a drop of water that enters into a sponge” and we know with every drop the sponge will eventually be completely saturated. What blessing it would be to be able to reach that pinnacle of spirituality, to be totally inebriated and inundated by the powerful presence of God always. Yet how often have we felt ‘dryness’ in our lives, when we seem to be ‘out of touch’. Those are frightening moments when we feel so bereft and hollow. But we take heart that even saints go through this dry patch. As long as we continuously seek to let the Spirit rain on us so that in time we will be a heavy sponge completely soaked in the Spirit’s rain.
God Bless you Steve for this great work of God you are doing!
Lily