Praise the Lord! Smell the Rain!

Psalm 147:1-11         Contemporary English Bible   (CEB)

1  Praise  the Lord! Because it is good to sing praise to our God! Because it is a pleasure to make beautiful praise!

2 The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem, gathering up Israel’s exiles.
3 God heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.
4 God counts the stars by number, giving each one a name.
5 Our Lord is great and so strong! God’s knowledge can’t be grasped!
6 The Lord helps the poor, but throws the wicked down on the dirt!

7 Sing to the Lord with thanks; sing praises to our God with a lyre!
8 God covers the skies with clouds; God makes rain for the earth; God makes the mountains sprout green grass.
9 God gives food to the animals— even to the baby ravens when they cry out.
10 God doesn’t prize the strength of a horse; God doesn’t treasure the legs of a runner.
11 No. The Lord treasures the people who honor him, the people who wait for his faithful love.

The italics are mine…. It’s the verse that I’m focusing on.

It has really been cloudy this week and the week ahead doesn’t look to be a whole lot sunnier, at least from a meteorology point of view. But we have had some brief glimpses of the sun, the warmth, the gentle breeze. And we have been lucky. Our rains have been fairly gentle. “Soakers” Ed Wilson calls them. Not damaging. Nourishing. Nourishing to the earth, nourishing for the worms and animals that depend on the puddles and raindrops for their hydration. Let’s face it, isn’t the smell of gentle rain, especially when it falls on newly mowed grass one of the best scents God created? For me it ranks right up there with new babies, lilacs, and cinnamon rolls or fresh baked bread. Praise the Lord!

Plus, all this soaker rains and almost perfect temps have done something else. I had to be on the highway a lot today. I can tell you that Iowa is lush with a wide variety of beautiful greens… fields starting to pop, trees, grass, bushes… someone said they thought Iowa looked a lot like Ireland right now it was so lush and green. Ireland is on my bucket list, but maybe I don’t have to travel too far to get an idea. I wonder if it has to do with the 17% decrease in air pollution around the world over the last 8 weeks while factories have had lower production and people have not had to commute to work and haven’t been able to travel as much.

The seasons are changing, summer is just around the corner. And yet our world hasn’t felt quite the same. There is still much to wonder about. Much keeping us apart. We are constantly reminded to stay 6’ apart. No hugging. No hand-shaking. And now we are also told that when we do come back together as a church we should not sing… so no SINGING praises to the Lord, but we can speak them, we can hear them in our hearts and minds as we listen to instrumental music and our heart can rejoice. The Lord will help us rebuild our lives together once again. Praise the Lord! Our God will nourish the earth with rain and nourish our souls with love. Praise the Lord! The Creator will not only bring about the lush green of spring and summer, but also the hope for a better future, a healing of the earth, but also a healing of the mind, body and spirit. Praise the Lord! An Amazing Divine Love will cover us as the clouds cover above and give us what we need… as the hymn says, “Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.” Praise the Lord!

It has been a really hard 2.5 months. It could still be hard for a few months to come. But it has also been a time where we have learned about ourselves. What is important. What we really need. Where we are broken and in need of healing. How we can do things differently. How we feel about life, love, others, ourselves. We’ve discovered things about ourselves and discovered ways to help one another. We’ve discovered ways to allow others to help and love us. We’ve discovered what is truly important and how to give thanks.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

May the wind always be at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face,

May the rains fall soft upon your fields and, until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

Amen