The Blessed Rain

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 13, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 40.

Our first rain of the year has fallen. So quiet, so unheralded it came, as to be almost a surprise. For only a little time the south wind blew, gently, freshly, with the slightest feeling of a coming shower, just a suggestion of dampness in its kiss upon the brow, bared to its benediction. Then in the night came the rain; so gentle and warm it fell, all through the night and the next day, welcome every moment. It cleared the foul and murky air of dust and smoke. It put out the forest fires which weary men, oftentimes defeated, had been fighting for days. It filled all the cracks and gaps in the sun-dried earth. It washed clean the dirty green foliage and dusty evergreens. It washed out, sweetened the atmosphere till it seemed that hungry lungs could not drink enough. It awakened new bird songs. The great mountains came nearer in clearer outline through clean washed air. Even now, tho but a few days have passed since it fell, a ghost of green is seen playing over the erstwhile gray, dead fields, the promise of the reality to be. Even so God sends His Spirit to the hard, dry, barren hearts of earth. If they will open as has the ground to receive it, its gracious life-giving power will cleanse and make fruitful the barren life. Praise God for the rain and its fruitage. Praise Him for its lessons.