What is Lent? Today I got up at 5:30 am and headed for the gym. It was raining hard. As I ran I could hear the rain beating on the roof of the gymnasium and I was reminded of Thomas Merton who said,
It will talk as long as it wants, this rain. As long as it talks I am going to listen.
So whenever it rains its a call to holiness for me. It’s an invitation to think of Merton and contemplation. The sound of rain is beautiful. Rain washes over us and over the land and I think it’s like grace, except that we can see it. God’s grace is all around us. It isn’t just on Ash Wednesday or during Lent. It isn’t just Sunday, but on Monday and Tuesday too.
We just have to look for it. I’m trying to look for it more.
As I took my dog on a walk this morning, after a night of rain, I felt such a freshness, like the world had started over, with love and compassion as the bywords instead of hate, anger, and war. Perhaps it was the stillness in the air, seeing the flowers grow almost before my eyes, or watching Black Sox prance around the green grass. Whatever it was, it reminds me of what you quote Merton about, that the rain surely does talk to us, and I for one, will listen.
Blessings and peace,
Mark Shaw
P. S. I am impressed with your site and look to it as an example of what I may do as well at some point.