Hike Pray Quilt: Rain

Today we are receiving the first real rain of the spring season in our town on the high plains at 6,000 feet. Not an icy rain turning into snow and accumulating on the grass, but real rain, pure rain and it is lovely, plus S. fertilized the yard over the weekend so the timing is perfect. People in dry lands and producers who rely on it to nourish their crops love the rain. Of course there are those who bemoan the rain and see it as sadness with the gray skies and all. There is another way to perceive it as a metaphor for God’s grace ever flowing into our lives waiting for us to receive the blessing and in turn giving the blessing on to others.

In my preparation for Easter I have been reading a new book “One Thousand Gifts” by Ann Voskamp. She is a blogger whose site I like but while I have been on my blog reading holiday I have not gone there lately. I am reading her book though that gives the background for her spiritual healing. She tells of the process that lead her from a life of fear and ingratitude even as a Christ follower to a life of gratitude and grace through choosing to see God in all the little things that bless her life. She literally set out to make a list of one thousand gifts.

Ann’s childhood and her family life is forever changed due to a tragedy that unfolds before her four year old eyes. It lead to a troubled childhood and to cutting herself as a teenager and to panic attacks. The lingering affects continue to steal her happiness as a happily married adult with six young children of her own. Her account is well written and personal but also triumphant.

I read chapter 10 today “empty to fill” here is an excerpt from page 184.

"I turn my hand over, spread my fingers open. I receive grace. And through me, grace is meant to fall, a rain …again, again, again. I could share the grace, multiply the joy, extend the table of the feast, enlarge the paradise of His presence. I am blessed. I can bless. A life contemplating the blessings of Christ becomes a life acting the love of Christ
I listen to wind in the corn, rain on the pane, and I find my place. All the lost pieces are finding their place.”

Later on pages 196-197 She quotes from Isaiah 58:10-11

Feed the hungry,
     And help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
     And the darkness around you will be bright as noon.
The Lord will guide you continually,
     Giving you water when you are dry
     And restoring your strength.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
     Like an ever-flowing spring.

Quoting Ann again. “It’s the fundamental, lavish, radical nature of the upside-down economy of God.

Empty to fill.”