My girlfriend loves rain.
Given where she's originally from, it makes complete sense. There is a deep ingrained belief in her culture and in her family that rain is not only a sign of blessings, but a sign of impending, guaranteed -- and possibly immediate -- blessings.
Where I'm from, by contrast, I've learned that rain is good because it waters the plants, waters the lawn, waters the trees, and most importantly, waters the crops. (Although in each case, we have created workarounds to keep everything we want watered even when it doesn't rain. But that's besides the point.)
Bottom line, I've always been a sunny-day person. Give me a sunny day anytime. Especially when we get to the months of November, December, and January, when in Chicago we can have a week or two of clouds every day. And I mean, just clouds. Plus, seasonal affective disorder is a real thing. I notice, especially once we hit October, not only how much shorter the days are, but how rapidly they're getting shorter. With that, when I think about a day with rain in the forecast all day long, I typically don't jump for joy because it means we're going to have a dark day in the sky. Plus I have to put on a raincoat, and all that jazz.
My blog post, however, is about revisiting it. One thing about my girlfriend's faith that I like is how rain -- and the history of her culture's attitude about it -- enables her to quickly and immediately trust God. And we've often had a conversation where I'll be out and about, and it rains -- sometimes it even monsoons -- and her immediate response is: "blessings are coming your way, babe!"
Like today.
We've had rain off and on throughout the day. A couple hours ago as I was leaving work for the day, we were having a downpour, as shown in the video. Even with a raincoat, my shirt and arms still got quite wet. In fact, she was the reason I even shot a video, because I knew she would love seeing it.
Shifting my philosophy on rain though is still like moving the Titanic. (Thank goodness there's no iceberg this time though!) I appreciate it more now. In many lands and cultures, people's lives and livelihoods still do depend on the weather. And often the reference around rain as a blessing or harbinger of blessings is used across the Bible. (And similarly, drought, for the opposite reasons.) I am able to make the connection between physical rain, and rain as a metaphor for good things that God might have in store.
My choosing to believe that it automatically means God's blessings are on their way is still 50/50 at best. Last Tuesday, I had an experience that, a few days later, gave reason for my skepticism. I had a chance encounter at my bank with someone who had a gig opportunity for me (we even verbally set up a framework for it, including pay, time spent performing, start and end time, and vaguely, location), and there was a downpour outside at the time. In the end, the gig never happened. I even called the guy three times over a period of a couple days, and emailed him -- no response whatsoever. I'm still scratching my head on that. As such, you can see why I'm not yet convinced. But it's a nice thought, and moreso I am able to connect that physical rain does mean that someone is being blessed, even if it's only the plants, crops, and people who are truly rain-lovers.
I imagine that someday I will tap more and more into the joy that my girlfriend finds with rain. I don't think I'll ever completely shift from being a sunny-day person to a rainy-day person. But I imagine that my appreciation can and will still deepen. That works for me.
One final note: today marks 13 months since she and I first connected, and 12 months since our first phone call. The above photo marks the park where I was for that phone call, and -- surprise! -- on the sign is written "Rain Garden."