The Blessings of Sunshine and Showers
April and May showers have continued to bring us such beautiful, cooler temperatures here in Austin. I stepped out to my car and my friend’s delightful, playful, and friendly Labradoodle, Magellan, came bouncing (literally) to me. He was off his leash and he sees me. It’s like he’s taken a sunshine pill. He starts running in circles and bouncing up and down. I think his owner, Sandy, took a sunshine pill, too, as she says: “Oh, let’s bottle up this day so we can pour it out on us this summer!” I agreed.
This photo of Magellan is his calmer self under his owner’s command. He’s a bouncer of joy because his obedience is rewarded. He trusts his owner. And shouldn’t we be that submitted to OUR owner, Father God, Who assures us of His blessings when we obey? With Who our Master is and because He gives us abundant life, shouldn’t we be expressing Magellan’s joy and excitement too?
Who wants “grumpydom” to be their mode of operation when we have a risen Savior and Lord? A few days ago, I blogged out a reminder that we should still be celebrating Easter for the 40 days He showed Himself off after His resurrection and before His ascension to heaven. Of course, I’m figuratively speaking because, without a doubt, we know He reigns from on high and in our hearts today. But I still feel Easter reverberating in my heart. He lives. I see Him all around us — in the little doodle bug crawling along the sidewalk AND in that bouncing Labradoodle.
Because I’m keeping myself in the Easter mindset, I sense sunshine on the outside AND showers of blessing on the inside. Maybe you didn’t get the “goosies” about Easter because you’re so caught up in a “drought” in your life right now. It may be a dry season and you’re desperately searching for a way to get back to feeling alive and well in Him. Maybe there’s a difficult situation that has drained you of your emotional strength. If so, then I encourage you to call on the “Shower-Giver” today. He has showers of blessings for you. He wants to rain blessings in your life – and not just a light rain of blessings. He wants to pour down heavy showers of blessings on you!
God wants to drench, soak, and saturate His children with His love, His goodness, His grace, His mercy, and His kindness. He wants to flood us with blessings! And if we call out to Him and continue to obey and trust Him even in the most difficult circumstances, He will show up amid our droughts with rains of blessing upon us.
“Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know Him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.” Hosea 6:3