Rainy Day

I must admit that when I first read this line of this poem, Rainy Day, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, I wasn’t sure what “repining” meant.  Repining means to fret; to feel or express discontent.  I think this single line expresses a proper perspective on how we are to see our “rainy days”, where rainy days signifies those emotionally down days or lonely times.  Longfellow purposely directs his own sad heart instructing it to not repine, the sun is still shining whether he can see it or not.  How wise this is and what an excellent expression of the reality of God for us.

The Lord’s light always shines.  It never diminishes.  The Lord is and ever shall be.  It is important to recognize that although we think the world revolves around us, it doesn’t.  Those things that hurt us so badly aren’t really that important in the context of reality.  The Lord’s light still shines and it shines so brightly we can’t possibly look fully into it.  The same Lord who loves you just as you are and who calls you to come to Him, His light does not diminish. 

We get the opportunity to reach out to one another and to encourage one another.  We get to remind each other that “behind the clouds is the sun still shining”.  This happened to me on Thursday.  Out of nowhere, I got a text from someone I might only see once a year when he visits his father.  Although I have known him for many years, we never spend much time together.  I actually thought that the text was an accident, but after I read it, I knew it wasn’t, even if it was.

The text referenced Isaiah 61:1-3.  It said, “’The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because … He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, … to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.’  Christ came not only to forgive sins, but to heal our broken hearts.”  Why would I receive such a random text at such a random time from someone I see for only a few minutes every year or every other year?  It was, of course, God reassuring to me a message I needed to hear. 

We are the transport vehicles God can use to encourage one another.  We are able to testify of God’s faithfulness and in doing fan the fire of another’s faith that might be dwindling in their cloudy rainy day.  It is so very hard to want to do anything when you are emotionally exhausted.  Remember today that the sun is still shining above those clouds that are in your life.  And that sun is greater than everything that exists.  There is nothing that will keep God’s light from reaching you.

Dear Lord, please help me to see Your light today.  Help me to feel the warmth in my heart and the wrap of your arms over me.  Trade my ashes, mourning, and despair into beauty, joy, and praise.  Lead me away from repining in full knowledge and faith that you are forevermore and above all things that ever will be.  Through the light of Your Son I pray, Amen.