Continuing the Conversation: Silence

Last week I was sitting in my garden gazing into the woods. The birds were singing, but it still wasn’t quite spring. All the forest was still bare and brown. But then over the weekend, we got rain; and nearly overnight, color appeared. My coral bells puckered up, purple phlox lush and healthy, tulips opened their buds to the sun, hosta bunches poked up from the dirt revealing baby leaves. And not just my garden, the forest had blossomed. Green vines wrapped around trees, budded leaves now open, berries appeared in the brush and the canopy and underbrush teemed with life. Spring was finally here.

It’s funny to me that a little rain is all it took to go from winter’s end to spring’s beginning. And I wonder how our souls are very much the same way.

The rain provided an essential nutrient that could not be obtained by the plants on their own. Those one or two evenings of downpour that caused a hush over creation, a pause of sorts, gave sustaining, beautifying life. 

Sometimes the rain is frustrating. Sometimes, I don’t understand it. The unsuspecting drizzle can hamper and dampen (no pun intended) the best laid plans for my day. 

Isaiah 55:8-11 says. . .

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.…

So as much as it may foil and frustrate me, the rain is necessary. Not only for the ground, but for my soul. God’s ways are higher than mine. His thoughts I cannot comprehend. Rain creates a natural pause, an opportunity to reflect. Am I allowing for pauses in my life? For showers of refreshment? For his Word to saturate my soul? Or am I fighting the change of plans, the interference with my control? Filling my life with busyness so that I am unable to pause when the opportunity arises?  It’s only when I allow the crusty dirt of my heart to accept the replenishing streams that I will begin to see growth of fruit in my life. 

Hebrews 6:7

For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God;

Lord, keep my heart supple. Help me not to run from the rain, but to joyfully accept the moments of pause in my life in order to turn to you and be refreshed.

How have you seen God water you during moments of pause, rain, or silence in your soul? How have you created moments to welcome the pause?