After several days camping in the rain, Robin and I had about enough.
(Actually, I had enough early on- I came back home and worked for two days while Robin endured the downpour.)
What amazes me, once again, is the different perspective of kids.
Rain creates mess and work and difficulties in a pop-up camper.
But the kids just love the adventure.
Streams swell, frogs jump, worms wiggle out of the ground, puddles accumulate and are made for jumping!
And just when Robin and I were at our wits end, and when were complaining about the rain, Justin said, in the way that only a 5 year old can,
"But the rain makes everything grow."The truth of his observation took me back to the story of the wise and foolish builders in Matthew 7.
The wise man builds his house on the rocks.
The foolish man builds on the sand.
Because in both lives a lot of rain is going to fall.
When we build on the rock, on Jesus and the way he teaches us to live, we don't just survive the rains, we grow.
How many of us look back on those rain storms of life-
the hurts, the loses, the disappointments and heartache-
And while it was no fun going through it,
we see how much we grew.
If you're in the rain today, build on the rock.
You'll not just weather the storm,
You'll grow.
hey - you stole my story! story-stealer!!
ReplyDeletei love it ...
you wrote it very well my dear.
The fact that God exists outside of time is what makes this story really meaningful. All too often, people think that parents, especially Christian parents, are chosen by God for a specific purpose in educating and raising their children in a Christ-like fashion.
ReplyDeleteBut when you aren't bound by the laws of linear time, this perspective changes. You don't just see people and families growing, aging, increasing in wisdom and stature, and moving forward in that growth in the same direction as the minutes of the day; you also see the collective whole of the interaction of people and the impact they have on the world around them, young and old, child and parent, and through many points in time.
It's that unique perspective that God has which allows him to instead choose children for a specific purpose to help educate and raise their parents.