It seems like such a minor thing, but having my mind changed about rain has changed me fundamentally. For one thing, I have a lot more freedom. The rain doesn't keep me from my run, so neither does the threat of rain. That's a lot more running! I've had a conventional view challenged and changed, which makes me more likely not to avoid examining other conventions in the future. I've also been freed from the ungratefulness and the blindness that comes with it. Beautiful rain!
Running in the rain gives me a different view of things. The woods and fields our road runs through, as well as their sounds, smells, and wildlife, are all different in the rain. I'm so glad I haven't missed out on that. My life is richer. It's as though I'm more alive than I would be without being out in the midst of a Kentucky rain shower. It gives me something to grow on.
My relationship with the Word of God is a lot like that, and so much more. It leads me to freedom - freedom from empty convention, from self, from sin, from ungratefulness. It is TRUTH, and "the truth shall make you free." John 8:32
And talk about a different perspective! God's thoughts are far above ours, yet he has set some down in a book and enlivened it with the power of the Holy Spirit to give us a means of transformation. How desperately and how often I need my perspective changed from mere human perception to God's Truth! My life is greatly enriched. This is the "Word of Life," without which I would be dead indeed. It is the fuel for my continued growth, satisfying nourishment just for me from my Father.
Sometimes my time with the Bible is like a splash in my sleepy face, sometimes it's just a sprinkle, sometimes a decided shower, and every once in a while a positive deluge. It always has its effect, though. Freedom, perspective, life, food for growth... and something to pass on as well.
How do you pass on a delight in and a hunger for the Word of God? Well, in a family that's not hard. It seems that every single day life furnishes the opportunity and the need to search it out and apply it. Parents who are soaking up the Truth themselves will find that it just oozes out "when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." Deuteronomy 6:7 There are purposeful times of study and sharing, too - family devotions, corporate worship and feeding on the Truth, etc. And if you are blessed as we have been, other believers will invest in your children's lives, pointing them to God's Word yet again.
It's getting harder and harder to watch our children leave our home. This year will be the first that the majority are gone. A diminishing family circle brings its own unique heartache. There is a special joy, though, in knowing that they are established in the Truth, and in watching them apply that Truth and trust in their Heavenly Father alone to guide them. Hearts so focused will not go far wrong, though they may be far from us.
A first rain frolic in Cambodia after the six month dry season. Even the downpour wasn't enough for their exuberance, so they asked for the reservoir hose too...
The effects of "running in the rain" of God's word? Freedom, perspective, life, food to grow on and a trust to pass on... children who run in the rain, too, shared life, shared growth, and then, a few belongings left when they go off to run on their own - with joy.
Beautiful!
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