All across California this week, heavy rain has been making our roads soggy, and our hearts and minds yearn for soup season. If you hang around me at all, you know how much I love the cold rainy season in California.
In the Bible, rain is often a symbol of God's mercy, as rain is crucial to crops: providing nutrients that are hard to come by even when watering artificially. Don't ask me the science, that's another post for another bowl of soup.
I get to thinking at times like these that rain keeps me from taking God's faithfulness for granted. The Bible says His mercies are new every morning. That's the same cadence that my stupidity renews also, so I'm extra thankful.
As the cold rain falls and cleanses California of the summer heat, God's mercy on sinners like us falls when we call out to Him, and when He cleanses us, we are cleansed indeed.
The cold rain does something else to us too: it prompts us and compels us to search for warmth and comfort. That can be everything from a bowl of fresh tomato soup, or a tall hot cup of Pumpkin Spice Latte. Have you ever felt the pull to be near and close to God when you contemplate His mercy? That's how it's supposed to be.
After all, were we not created to have fellowship and communion with Him? Just look at Genesis: when everything was perfect, Adam would walk and talk with God every day. Once sin separated us from God, we couldn't just walk and talk with Him anymore. But that's still what we've been created for.
As you snuggle in for the remainder of the cool autumn rain, spend some quiet time with your Heavenly Father, and give thanks for the amazing gift of His never-ending mercy.
And if you're planning for a night of tomato soup, please send me an invite.