When It Rains

When it rains there are Nerf gun wars in my living room

orange-tipped darts fly at random from behind couches and around corners

Feet pound up and down the hallway

I cringe as someone slips in their socks, sliding headlong,

their face inches away from an unforgiving chair leg

and rain trickles down the window

A child flips open the piano lid and bangs out a discordant melody,

a cacophony of sound resonating as a wild wrestling match breaks out

They pin each other down, laughing with glee until someone cries out in pain

Then I am called in as the referee

while the rain drips down the window.

I sit quietly beside my four year old as he colors repetitive bright blue circles

I encourage his progress, verbally praising the careful way he fills in the lines

He needs this time with me, and so in the hubbub I invite him into my space

I sip coffee and type, and he puckers his lips in concentration

as the rain rolls down the window.

My eyes are captured by the words on my mug, “Bloom where you go”

And suddenly I imagine a world without rain, where nothing blooms and nothing grows.

I imagine a desert, Sahara dry, parched for water, where nothing blooms and nothing grows

while the rain slides down my window

So in the gray dreariness of today, I will be thankful for the rain and grateful for the noise

For the rain waters my soul, and the strength of the Lord is found in my valleys

His comfort is found in the desert as Isaiah 51:3 reminds me:

“For the Lord will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places;

He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord;

Joy and gladness will be found in it,

Thanksgiving and the voice of melody”

And I am content to be here in the soil where God has planted me

for He makes even my desert like the garden of Eden

I recall to mind Psalm 16:5-6

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; You hold my lot.

Then lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

indeed I have a beautiful inheritance.

My children are a beautiful inheritance, and worth the noise and chaos

And my soul will rest quietly in God

For he has turned my desert into a garden

And He used rain.