rain.

I've written about rain before. I'll write about rain again. Today, I write about grace.

You see, I'm thankful for rain because storm clouds make for cozy days, full of flannel and grilled cheeses and favorite movies.  I'm thankful for rain because my childhood memories are flooded with summer showers on a porch swing or evenings chasing puddles in my drive way.  I'm thankful for rain because it makes the whole world slow down a little bit.  And because I have a really cute umbrella.

But more than that, I am blessed by the rain.  Because rain reminds me of a God of grace.  A God who knows what His earth and His people need.  A God who knows how I love the rain and uses that to display His constant pursuit of my heart.

Amidst a long string of days that have felt dark, cold, ugly, and dry, I greet this rain like a child whose parents have come home from a long trip - with arms reaching only up…clinging to the familiarity, yet resounding mystery,  of unconditional love.

And I sing the words of that hymn that speak so clearly to my soul:
"O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be.
Let Thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it!  Prone to leave the God I love.
Here's my heart, O, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above."

This rain. It is good. And it feels like it was sent just for me.