Something that makes life better

Published 6:23 am Friday, April 6, 2018

April, the month known for showers, is here. While we may, at times, complain about the momentary inconvenience the showers may bring, most of us are genuinely thankful for them.

We know that they are not at all bad, for they have a transforming effect. When they come, the “April showers bring May flowers,” and, because of the showers, the good earth that surrounds us, indeed, will become alive, and it will become beautiful, green, vibrant and productive.

One experience is, and forever will be, indelibly etched upon my mind. On a beautiful morning while standing at the crest of the Mount of Olives, I looked eastward across the barren Judean Wilderness, a vast expanse of red hills that are almost total unproductive because there is so little rain in that wilderness. It was, indeed, an exceedingly “dry and thirsty land.” That morning in that eye-opening moment, I remembered something important. Showers of rain, although they may seem a bit inconvenient at times, are an absolute necessity if the land is to be vibrant and productive.

Then, I remembered that in a little country church many years ago we often sang an old hymn with the line, “For the showers we plead.” And there are times when we need, and plead, for the showers, for we want them badly. In those dry spells, other things, important as they may seem to be, become secondary and we realize that in life a mixture of sunshine and showers is necessary. They blend together harmoniously to make things better and the world around us more beautiful and more productive.

Sometimes, maybe frequently, we complain when we should accept and be thankful because we face some situation that we feel, at the moment, is a little unpleasant and things are not just like we want them to be. Like the refreshing showers in the dry spell, the minor annoyances may be something that makes life better and what we desire it to be.