Rain, Grace and the Cultivated Heart

 

There is something magical about standing under an umbrella in a soft summer rain. We had a beautiful rainfall during the night and into the morning.

As I let my “girls” out for the day I stood in my backyard and just enjoyed the smell of the rain as it hit the grass, the sound as it ran off the eaves of the house; into the rain barrels, the coolness of the drops as they landed on exposed skin and the hazy, filmy look it gave everything as it washed the world clean. It was a feast for the senses. I was too busy enjoying myself; to run and get the camera.  (Some things just need to be kept in a corner of your memory to be taken out and enjoyed later.)

Soft summer rains refresh and renew. They clean the dust off the leaves and buildings that accumulate on our hot muggy days. They are cooling, nurturing and life-giving.

The soft rains remind me that softness and gentleness are always better received than harsh, in-your-face attitudes and comments. This is a lesson that is a good reminder for me as I do like to “fix” things. I need to remember that “gracious words are…….; sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” Prov. 16:24

I have seen what hard rains can do. They pelt and they hurt when you stand in them. They usually leave a mess when they are done. My husband has often commented, “Sometimes too much rain is worse than no rain at all.” And he is right.

A blogging friend made a comment about a “cultivated heart”.  I suspect that the requirements to getting one of those hearts are soft gentle rains in the form of encouragement, gently delivered wisdom from trusted friends, regular fellowship with those who lift up, but lovingly disciple, and those who will walk with you. These are the people who will gently point out areas in life and heart that need tending; but who will leave the deep tilling and the painful ripping out of deep rooted weeds to the Master Gardner.

A cultivated heart is born out of life experiences. It has let those experiences make it better and not bitter. It has decided to survive and thrive through the circumstances that life tosses in it’s way. It knows that life is not always easy; but has decided to take the chance to bloom and flower anyway so that others may be encouraged and flourish.

A cultivated heart opens the garden gate to the Gardener so it can be lavished with love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22) and then it opens the gate again and showers others with the blessing of those same gifts.

It is grace…..it is a gentle summer rain.

May you be blessed with a warm summer rain that waters your soul and cultivates your heart. May you graciously receive and extend grace.

May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass,
like showers that water the earth!
Psalm 72:6
ESV