I live in sunny southern California where the sun shines most of the year. Except when you really, really need it to.
Like now.
We’ve had some major repairs on a 2nd story patio which is located directly above our bonus room. The entire patio has been stripped, except a few boards and some wires. Which means our bonus room is missing one teensy tiny thing. A roof.
And it’s raining.
Funny, but I’ve never really paid much attention to the ceilings in our home. I don’t think about how to decorate them. I don’t clean them. I seldom even look at them (except in the room where one of my kids got a sticky ball suck to the ceiling and it left a greasy mark for years). All in all, I’d say ceilings go pretty much unnoticed.
Until the moment you realize how absolutely essential they are.
Like when it rains.
For many women the Bible is kind of like a ceiling. If you asked “is it important?” they’d quickly respond “of course!” But does it get noticed? Paid attention to? Used? Applied in everyday life? Maybe not so much.
As long as the sun is shining and life flows along in its predictable, usual way, God’s word can be nothing more than a blip on our radar. A shadow in our peripheral vision.
But what if it rains?
Because eventually it always does, you know.
If God’s word isn’t nailed securely in our hearts, we leak.
Maybe you’ve been leaking lately; leaking emotionally or physically or spiritually or professionally. Maybe you’ve leaked all over your spouse, or your kids or your co-workers. The pressure has become too much and the rains just keep coming and the holes in your soul just can’t contain the heaviness.
May I offer a tender suggestion? Secure your heart with the promises you can cling to and directions your can follow found only in God’s word. If you don’t know where to start, open up the Psalms and pour out your heart to God as fiercely as the rain comes pouring down in a heavy storm. Repent if you need to. Cry if you need to. Pray because you need to. Truthfully, relying on God’s word during our patio leak has been the only protection that’s kept me from a giant emotional, spiritual or verbal leak.
And what if you’re not leaking? What if the sun is shining on your day and life is, well…sunny?
Prepare for the rain anyway. Because like living in sunny southern California, rain may not come often. But it comes.
