It's Another Day

I have the privilege of enjoying my 2 1/2 year old granddaughter two mornings a week. Last week we wanted to go out to swim and swing, but it was raining very hard. Skylar began the time-honored method for dispelling showers, sing-songing, "Rain, rain go away. Come again another day!" Imagine her delight when literally in about 5 minutes, the rain completely stopped and the sun appeared. "Mamaw!", she exclaimed. "The rain listened! It went away!"

Friday we were together again. Early in the morning, we had a steady downpour that settled in for a long haul. She stood at the storm door, nose and palms pressed against the windows. She began singing again her rain song, and determinedly sang it a few times through. Eventually, Skylar turned around, dejected, and said, “It’s still raining.”

I replied, “Yeah—well, I think it’s ‘another day.’” She crinkled her nose and her eyebrows crowded together like two little blond caterpillars facing off.

“What?!?!?”, she said.

So, I tried to tell her that it HAS to rain some time. We had really enjoyed it last week when the rain seemed to cooperate with our plans and went away without much of a grumble. But now it was back. It shouldn’t have been a surprise guest. She told him to come again another day.

Skylar said, “Yes—but not THIS day.”

She’s a lot like her Mamaw. Technically I know that the phrase “into each life some rain must fall” is actually a truism. But when clouds threaten and rain starts to come down, like Skylar, I always try to command the rain to go away. I even often beg and bargain with God to make the torrents go away, even if it means returning another day. Many times the clouds do become fluffy white and the downpour abates.

But I am not an exception to the rule. Into each life some rain WILL fall. Clouds don’t always go away. Sometimes the downpour happens, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Another day always comes.

But it doesn't mean God doesn't love me. It doesn't mean I've done something wrong. It doesn't mean His hand is off my life. It just means it is another day.

And I have learned the lesson all little girls who love Jesus eventually figure out--if there's no rain, there can't be any flowers. It takes some "another days" to grow true beauty.

If you're in "another day", it's ok to be disappointed. It's ok to cry. It's all right to sing your songs and tell your Father you surely are anxious for the skies to clear. But try to remember--when the skies clear, and the sun shines through again, the blossoms you enjoy couldn't have come without the rain.

Here's another song to give a try when it's raining.