I Really Do Love the Rain (from summer 2010)
I felt like writing today, but didn’t have any profound theological insights to share. Sorry. How about we talk about the weather instead?
Why does weather seem to affect my mood? Grey, rainy days almost guarantee a gloomy outlook, unless I consciously catch it before it takes hold. Okay, it’s a cliche – “rainy days and Mondays always get me down”… Mondays I can understand but why rainy days? Especially this summer – we’ve been pretty dry, so this is rain on parched ground. I really do love the rain.
I haven’t been sleeping well again lately, and came home from church today with a headache. Since the weather was wet and cold, I opted to disappoint Jackson Brown (my chocolate lab retriever) He usually expects to go outside for a nice game of fetch as soon as I get home from work, church or just about anywhere else. Instead, today we took a nap to get rid of the headache. I opened the bedroom window next to my bed and was lulled to sleep by the soothing sound of the rain. Now and then a cool breeze disturbed the curtains and carried the delicious smell of the rain to me. I really do love the rain, so why does a dark day bring a dark mood? I wonder about the Irish and the English (and those in the Pacific Northwest) – are they depressed all the time?
Anyway, the nap worked. My headache went away. Jackson never had one to begin with. Do dogs even get headaches? I always wonder what his secret is. He knows how to be content.
He spends his life waiting on people. He has to wait to eat, wait to pee, wait to play, wait for everything. Yet he never complains.
He’s patience personified and unconditional love all wrapped up with a wagging tail and a cold wet nose. There’s much I could learn by example from my little brown buddy. He knows how to live in the moment. He has a (hopefully benign) tumor growing in his chest and we had to go visit the vet on Friday night to get it checked out. Not his favorite place. But he’s content and happy right up until we have to go into the exam room. While we’re in there, he’s scared and shaking, but then the very moment we turn to leave, he’s fine again. What’s the secret of that kind of peace and contentment? I wish I knew.
He’s forgotten the vet visit already and I’m still fretting over the bill. What I do know is that I spend too much time living in the past and worrying about the future.
The day ends on a better note than the one on which it began.
There are a couple of little girls at church that l’m really fond of. I haven’t seen much of them this summer and have missed them.
Today I got to see both, even if it was just for a few brief moments. I got a smile and a hello from the older one and a shy smile and a wave from the younger. Man, talk about rain on parched ground.
I really do love the rain.