“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?’ Isaiah 43:19

I awoke this morning to the sound of rain. Outside the window I could hear the slow,rhythmic patter of this gift of water from heaven. As I lay there, I marveled at the beauty of this sound, the cleansing nature of it simply made me breathe more deeply, feel calmer someplace deep within. Why is that? I also realized what an experience of sense memory it evoked.

Immediately I remembered a particularly sweet time as a teenager. A group of friends and I, fellow singers, had gathered at a friend’s cabin to prepare music for an upcoming concert. After singing and eating and much laughter we had fallen asleep scattered all over this small space. At some point of the night, I was awakened to the sound of rain on the tin roof of the cabin.I lay there listening to its gentle affirmation of friendship, creativity, youth. Just writing these words allows for a kind of time travel, reminding me of just how lovely life can be.

Once while camping as a family near Lake Superior, the rain began just after our campfire-cooked dinner. It could have been a disastrous experience given the ages of our children. But my husband stretched a tarp across the picnic table that extended toward the tent. By the light of the lanterns and a dying fire, we played Uno with our young sons. It was such a simple moment but one that becomes a precious memory when the sound of rain falls outside the morning window. The rain did not spoil, instead, enhanced our experience of getting close to nature, of being a family.

So many times as a child I would wake up to the sound of summer rain cascading down the drain spout outside my bedroom window. This would often mean a respite from the hot,humid days of summer in southern Ohio. Most often I would reach out for the book that had been abandoned on the floor the night before when I had fallen asleep in the sweaty, heavy air that was now being given it’s marching orders by the morning’s rain. I would snuggle back under the covers, open the cover of the damp feeling page, and read until it felt like time to get up.

If you notice, often in movies rain arrives in a scene to show that a person or situation is being transformed, cleansed, changed in some way. A man whose life has been falling apart will, in his distress, walk down a street. As he struggles with the issues his life has produced, a gentle rain will begin to fall. Sometimes his tears will begin to mingle with the raindrops and he, and those of us watching, will see that something is changing before our very eyes. What was painful or filled with sadness is being washed, cleaned, made new.

Rain is real and important and necessary. It is also a wonderful metaphor. With the sound of this morning’s rain, a new day is dawning. Fresh. Clean. Ripe with life. Baptized in the gifts of the Spirit. Can you hear it? Can you feel it?