Rain...

It's raining today. I'm not complaining, because it is a relief from the heat. And it keeps reminding me to pray for those people down in Texas who are trying to get away from the hurricane. There are lots of people I know down there -- I hope they are all (the ones I know and the ones I don't) okay and able to get to safety.

Rain is a funny thing. Not funny ha-ha, you understand. Just funny. Maybe it's not funny so much as unusual in that there are so many different perspectives on rain.

I grew up in Arizona near the desert. Rain there is rare and welcome. It is dry, dry, dry there most of the time. Rain is associated with blessing and abundance. If it gets too dry, people and animals suffer, and things catch on fire. Like the song "Showers of Blessing" the people there often associate rain with outpourings of God's mercy, grace, love...etc.

In the moisure-drenched Midwest, however, things are much different. Of course, sometimes there are "draughts" when it doesn't rain for, like, a week. And people panic and talk about how "dry" it is. Well, until the trees shrivel up and the ground starts to crack, and the rivers and streams become dry-bedded "washes," it's not dry. I think of the song "It Won't Rain Always" and figure it wasn't written by someone in the Southwest. The connotation of rain in that song is negative. It portrays rain as depressing and something to be dreaded by saying, "It won't rain always...the sun will shine again."

I don't think either viewpoint is necessarily "right" or "wrong." I just think it emphasizes the uniqueness and diversity of America. I find it very intriguing.

Interesting? I think so.