It’s spring and we’re having our share of rain, but we’re also getting a healthy dose of thunderstorms. Yesterday, it was almost constant beginning in early morning and continuing all through last night. At one point, the winds were strong enough that I got up to make sure we weren’t under a tornado warning. Most of the storms skirted by us, but we still heard the thunder and saw the lightning. Then this morning as Alan and I walked to school we had to take care to step around all the slugs, snails and worms on the sidewalks. He said, “Look, the rain washed out all the ugly things.”
Sometimes life is like that. Storms aren’t just isolated events, but we find ourselves in a season of storms, under relentless attack. Lying in bed trying to get back to sleep early this morning, I was reminded of how many times the Psalms talk of God’s voice as thunder. You only have thunder when a storm is going on. It’s in the storms that I most clearly hear God speak. (Now, Elijah and his still small voice… that was a different lesson.)
Storms in my life wash out all those ugly things, too. The worms left out in the sunlight will eventually die. A storm gives me the opportunity to bring all those long-harbored sins, attitudes or actions, out into the light for God to deal with them.
Storms can be frightening and remind me how powerless I really am. If you in the middle of a storm, hang in there. After a day and a half of rain and thunder, this morning, it’s bright and beautiful.