Rain - Literal and Metaphorical

This weekend I have danced in God's rain in interesting ways.

Friday my sister came down from Ogden bringing apples to turn into applesauce.  While removing the first batch of bottles from the hot water bath, I dropped one, and it spilled all over my foot. (I was thoughtless enough to be wearing flip-flop style sandals around boiling water.)  Thanks to my dad training us through stories of burn incidents (siblings, anyone else remember the story of the Boy Scout camp cook who stuck his leg in a five gallon pitcher of lemonade after being burned because it was the closest source of cold he could find?), I didn't panic - a blessing - and hopped shrieking to the sink and stuck my foot under cold water.  More blessings that none of the 5 children under age 4 in the house were near the incident, so no one else was hurt.

So the rest of our applesaucing day I sat and cut apples with my foot in a bucket of ice water.  My sister left with the remaining apples and refused to take any of the finished bottles - more blessings - saying that she still had the better end of the deal because she could walk.  (She is an inspiration to me as the mother of 5 very active, very close in age children.)  I thought I was helping her by helping make the applesauce; it turns out she was lifting me.

When my husband came home to get ready for our planned date that night - our first in several months of busyness, I couldn't even take my foot out of the ice water for more than a few minutes without it hurting.  Instead of being upset about the cancellation of our plans, he helped me clean up the applesauce-making mess in the garage and back porch.  He even cracked jokes about my foresight in having planned a date so that he would get off the mountain (he had been hunting deer and elk) before the literal rain arrived, which would have brought snow in those high elevations, and then my further brilliance in arranging an injury to delay our plans so that we wouldn't be out in the rain on our date.  Thoughtful, tender blessings from a thoughtful, tender man, God's greatest blessing to me.

This morning my foot was much better and only has four small burn blisters despite the nearly quarter of its surface red from the burn.  The bottom of my foot is not burned so I can still walk, though wearing shoes is a little uncomfortable.  This is a great blessing considering what could have been.

So today we went on our delayed date and stood in the rain anyway at the Utah Renaissance Fair so that we could watch knights joust on majestic and very large horses.  It was fun!

Dancing in God's rain!

Inspiration

Tonight I attended the General Women's Meeting of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, my church.  President Deiter F. Uchtdorf spoke to the sisters (women) of the Church and said (I'm paraphrasing) that sometimes we imagine God's blessings to be locked in a cloud in the heavens waiting for us to comply with strict paternal guidelines before He will release them.  Really, though, God is always showering blessings down on us like rain.  It is our doubt, fear, and sin that, like an umbrella, keep us from receiving His gifts.

I really liked that metaphor.  So much so that it inspired me to start this blog to try and share some of the moments when I've been refreshed by God's rain, His love and blessings, in my life.