Playing in the Rain

I still remember when I got in trouble for playing out in the rain. I was only 9 or 10 and couldn’t figure out why it was such a problem. I was wet, but we weren’t even going anywhere. All these years later, I still love playing in the rain. I let our kids dance and play in it when they were little and joined them, dancing along beside them as the rain splashed the earth. We would come inside soaking wet and laughing; oftentimes, they didn’t even have any clothes on. When we first moved to Georgia and Bri was still in Connecticut finishing up a job he was working on, he would come and visit us some weekends. One weekend, we were out running errands together and stopped at a Starbucks for a cup of coffee. The skies had opened up and bucketfuls of water were pouring down. We splashed in the puddles, kicked water at each other, laughed and kissed as the rain fell on our faces. That will forever be known as “our” Starbucks…

There’s something about the rain…the way it washes over us, splatters on our faces, sometimes falling on our smiles, at other times, mixing with our tears.  It’s cleansing, refreshing, at times scary and overpowering, leaving us feeling exposed and unsafe, at other times making us feel secure as we sit cozied up inside, blankets wrapped around us, with rain pelting the windows.

I think part of the reason why I love rain so much – its feel, its smell – is because of its touch upon my spirit and soul and the way that it’s inextricably connected to Holy Spirit. I see Him and sense Him in the rain and I sense the Father’s delight at my play and His laughter at my antics. I feel Holy Spirit wash over me, splattering me with His very being. It can feel overpowering and even a bit scary at times, but it makes me think of C.S. Lewis’ (1950) The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when Susan asks if the great Lion, Aslan, is safe. "Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”

I feel the same way about Holy Spirit. My life with Him is anything but “safe,” sometimes leaving me feeling exposed, but He’s good and there is no adventure like the one I’m on with Him. More often than not, He wraps me up in His presence, making me feel loved, secure, safe, at home, and even empowered. At other times, He washes over my broken, battered and tattered self, cleansing my wounds, His water mixing with my tears and washing them away.

I’m much more apt to play in the rain when my hair is curly. I don’t worry about messing up a hairstyle that I’d spent time straightening. When my hair is curly, I’m unencumbered, without any worries about how the rain will “mess things up.” I’m much more willing to get messy when I haven’t invested the time into trying to get things perfect. My husband will be the first to say that I’m the most beautiful in those moments when I’m drenched and imperfect, a smile filling my face. It’s the same with Holy Spirit. Being willing to freely soak in His presence, unencumbered by perfection, drenched in His love, causing a smile to well up from within and pour out…it’s beautiful. Sometimes we get so entrenched in needing things to be a certain way because we’ve worked hard for them to be a certain way that we stay out of the rain altogether, when what would bring us true joy is to go out and play, get messy, laugh, and smile.

I feel it in my bones, You’re about to move

I feel it in the wind, You’re about to ride in

You said that You would pour Your Spirit out

You said that You would fall on sons and daughters

So let the rain drench us in love

Let Your power rush in like a flood

(Spirit Move, Bethel Music, 2015)

Let the rain pour down, soaking you. Let it wash over you, love its feel and its smell…Be imperfect, without worries about how you look. Be a beautiful mess. Dance and play. Be free.

Lewis, C.S. (1950). The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe. Macmillan, NY.