Hello, Win Column!

The sights and sounds were amazing!  There was electricity in the air.  Literally. We had been waiting for so long for this day.  Some people said it would never happen; that the last time was just a fluke.  

Oh, yeah, the Rangers also played Game 1 of the ALCS.

I’m talking about a glorious day of refreshing, soaking rain!  Thirsty trees, shrubs, and blades of grass were dancing for joy.  You could almost hear the slurping sound as the parched ground absorbed this gift from heaven.  Pets and livestock stood confused and looking upward with only vague recollections of anything like this.

Ok, so maybe it was a little inconvenient in some ways.  The Rangers game took over five hours and Game 2 had to be postponed.  I know of a church that was going to have their Sunday morning service on the land where they are about to build their new building.  They had to get the word out quickly to their congregation to go to Plan B.  The construction that has finally begun on my office building that burned last year will probably be on hold for a few days.

And I can’t imagine that anyone with a grasp of perspective is really upset by any of that.  We have so desperately needed rain.  We have prayed for rain.  People who don’t routinely spend a lot of time praying or thinking about praying have prayed for rain.  And now that we have received a good soaking, how do we respond?

Amazingly, some of us will focus on the timing of the blessing and the inconvenience of having to adjust our plans.  If only the rain could have held off until after the game or whatever else was on the agenda.  It is easy to get tunnel vision when it comes to our plans.  We put a lot of work, thought, preparation, and even prayer into making our plans and scheduling our lives.  So, it is always a temptation to miss the big picture and even minimize the blessing when it doesn’t come at a convenient time.

Some of us will focus on the amount of the blessing.  In my neighborhood, we got about four inches of rain.  The weather folks tell us that we need about 12 inches to catch up.  So, it is pretty easy to say, “Thanks, God.  Now send us more.”  I would not begin to suggest that we should stop praying for rain.  Quite the contrary.  But it is easy to allow that sense of “not enough” to become foremost in our thoughts and cause us to minimize the blessing.

Hopefully, we can get past the timing and amount and focus on the source of the blessing.  Through all the prayers for rain, my prayer has been that God would use this time to help us understand how much we need Him—not just His blessings and favor.  We need His perspective.  We need an awareness of His presence.  We need Him to teach us how to live.  We need Him.

Philippians 4:4-7 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

 

Regardless of weather, when we see that our lives matter to Him and when He truly matters to us, we win. 

And that win column is the one that really counts.