Rain

Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.                     James 5:7

I am writing this blog just after a refreshing rainstorm which helped cut the heat just a little. The smell of the rain is familiar to us. It hearkens back memories from our deep youth, aromas having the ability to immediately transform us back decades in our minds.

That aroma is known as petrichor. It is a mixture of aromatics derived from fresh earth (algae and bacteria) and Ozone. That rain, if accompanied by some lightning, also delivers much needed Nitrogen from the atmosphere. Nitrogen is stubborn in not presenting itself in a natural state, but the lightning breaks it apart from Oxygen and other atoms, and allows that free Nitrogen to nourish our grass, and more importantly, food crops.

Rain is often associated with gloom and sadness, especially in movies. Rain is sometimes used to bring tension to movie scenes, perhaps a sense of uncertainty and disorder. Sometimes people pray for rain, and sometimes people pray for it to stop raining.

Whatever the situation, rain is a blessing and indeed, a necessity. I am grateful for it (most times) since life cannot function without this vehicle of delivering water to the planet. Rain is another one of those gifts we can take for granted, knowing, when we think about it, that it is an incredible gift.    

Prayer: Lord, we are grateful for rain, and your creative plan for this planet, Amen