“You know I am within you when you look at the rain and see the raindrops.”
The Holy Spirit shared this with me this morning during my prayer time, and I have been pondering it all morning. In pondering it, I am thinking of my looking at the “rain” but not seeing the “raindrops.”
Many times I looked at the rain as rain, but never stopped to think that the “rain” was made up of an incredible number of individual “raindrops.” I realized that if I took the time to see the “raindrops” in the “rain,” if I really concentrated on each raindrop I would see the beauty of each and how together each raindrop is different but together they create the rain at which I am looking and possibly feeling.
It sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But that is how the Holy Spirit works. It may sound weird from a practical point of view, but spiritually, it makes sense.
I knew there was a message in this for me so I continued to ponder. Now let me tell you about pondering. It does not mean you are just sitting there in some meditative state, not at all. No, as I pondered this morning I was doing several things around the house, and I continue to ponder in my office while I was doing other work until I decided to post my thoughts to the Blog. Pondering means you are carrying the essence of what you heard or saw to see if the meaning in it for you if any. It means that you are not taking at face value what you heard or saw. You feel there is something more to it, so you continue to ponder it until you find out just what that may be.
And so it was with this Whisper this morning from the Holy Spirit. As I pondered, I realized that this Whisper could apply to the world or my country, state city or even my church and family. Do I take the time to see the individuals that make up these entities (raindrops) or do I see each as a whole? (rain).
Yikes was that a convicting question. How many times have looked at the world without seeing the beauty of each one in it? How about my church? How many times did I look at it as a congregation and not see the wonderful people who make up that congregation? Even my family, how many times did I take joy or pride in my family and not recognizing the goodness of each loving member?
Ok, I get it, dear Lord. When it rains next time I will watch the raindrops of all sizes and shape, I will see the raindrops that fall on the leaves of a tree and roll to the edge of the leaf and drop off, some very quickly and others so slowly. I will notice the raindrops on the windshield on my car and those that bead up on its hood. I will notice the raindrops pouring off an umbrella while the person under it is trying to stay dry. Dear Lord, you got your point across.
I will see the people that make up the world as individuals and not countries, nationalities or tribes. I will see each person in my country, state, and city as a unique creation of God and not just a group of business people, politicians or any particular group. I will look at my church not as a congregation but as a group of fellow Christians that are all individuals made up of many different customs and cultures but of one faith. And with my family, I will constantly remind myself that each family member is a gift from God because of their uniqueness and how that uniqueness fits in my family and makes it what it is, my family.
While I had some of this individual focus, this Whisper “You know I am within you when you look at the rain and see the raindrops” has emphasized for me the importance of seeing the “raindrops” and not just the “rain.” Thank you, Holy Spirit for this Whisper and the ability to ponder in your grace.