Here in Western Colorado rain is a big deal. I live at 7,800 ft above sea level; I live in high desert. Pinion Pines, Prickly Pear and Sagebrush dot our landscape. Most of our moisture comes in the form of snow in the winter... and in the form of rain in late July and early August. After the dog days of June and July, hot and dry, fire fears, and sun burns; rain is life. Today as I packed up my things to go and listen to children, I could smell the rain coming. It's like the sagebrush let off their sweetest smells in anticipation. The cats burrowed in the hay, the goats bedded down. All the earth knew rain was coming and prepared accordingly. The horses were feeling it too, they ran the length of the fence to show me so.
I arrived at my destination and set up my things, invited a child in and listened, Holy Listening.
Rain. Rain was on the lips of the children. "What is it about the rain?" I asked.
"It's like what new feels like," said one.
"It's like God's says 'shhh. I've got something to say,'" said another.
"I like to play outside when it's raining. Have you felt it on your face?" asked a boy.
"Well yes, when I arrived." I said.
"No, not like that. When it's on your face and your just there to catch it," he replied.
Humm... when was the last time I stood out in the rain just to catch it. Just to hush up and hear God's whisper through water, to feel with my skin what new feels like.
Tonight.
Teeth brushed, drinks given, I asked my own children, "Where did you see God today?"
"In the rain," they both said.
"Today when I was going to the garden and it started to rain. It was soft and strange, but made me feel clean," says the one who hates to bathe. (I wanted to ask, so was this a good thing?)
"It's like this, Mom. Rain is like how God wants to help us be like Jesus. It's strange because, well, people are mostly dry. We know rain keeps us alive and we know we need it to keep clean, but it's so foreign and God knows it so he gives it to us in little bits."
And a little child shall lead them... I think I'll go sit outside, I hear thunder.
*Just in case you are wondering... the children gave me permission to use their words.