Rain and God Don't Play Favorites

I suspect that the local farmers and gardeners danced in the rain last week. After nearly a month of no rain, the heavens finally opened up and drenched the crops. Surely, a huge sigh of relief went up to the heavens from those who grow our food.

If you could control the weather, you’d make sure your own garden got plenty of sunshine and rain, right? Would you be concerned with your friends’ gardens also? What about your cantankerous neighbor’s garden? Also, you’d let the sun shine on your own family’s cookout; would you provide sunshine for that neighbor’s picnic also?  

Notice that God doesn’t play favorites. He lets the sun shine and the rain fall everywhere, on everyone. The same is true of His love. 

Christ continually showers His love on all of us, trying to get our attention, hoping we notice, wanting us to let His Spirit of love and peace permeate our fearful hearts just as the rain soaks the dry, hardened earth. He does all this because He desires to bring us closer to Himself. He wants us to believe that He will always love us, and to see ourselves as He sees us: beloved children of God. 

Jesus didn’t discriminate when He called His disciples; He saw the good in each person and their potential for even greater good, even in individuals who had been labeled ‘bad,’ like Matthew the tax collector.

We tend to judge ourselves and each other as being ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ but Christ sees the good in all of us and the potential for greater good. He sees your goodness. He wants you to see it, even if you’ve let yourself be labeled as ‘bad’ by someone else. You are precious to Him!  

Christ asks us to look for the goodness in others, too, and share His love and peace with them, especially those who are the hardest to reach. That cold and angry neighbor… have you reached out to her with a sincere, friendly greeting or any tangible sign of kindness? Have you considered that maybe she feels unloved or unlovable? Have you prayed for her? Maybe your persistent kindness – God’s love for her expressed through you – could be all that’s needed to soften her heart, just as the rain softens the parched soil. 

“I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for He makes His sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” – Matthew 5:44-45

“Lord, help me see my neighbors as You see them, and love them as You love me.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2023 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

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p.s.

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Faith Is Not a Feeling

Photo credit: dreamstime

“Increase our faith!” – Luke 17:5

The first time we went camping, our two oldest girls were three years and 16 months old. My in-laws gave us their canvas pop-up camper and we towed it to East Harbor State Park. That particular weekend, it rained. And rained. And rained. We didn’t let it dampen our spirits. With raincoats, umbrellas, and boots, the girls stomped in every puddle they could find. They danced while the rain fell onto them. They laughed and shared mud pies. They discovered colorful flowers and smooth pebbles as we explored the campground. We had picnics outside under the tarp. And, to my relief, we found a way to keep the mud out of the camper. Yes, we had hoped for sunshine. Yes, our beach plans were canceled. And through it all, we had such a great time we camped every year after that for the next dozen years, with that same camper and the addition of our two younger children.

It’s challenging to not let the weather dampen our spirits. Sometimes I even let the ‘weather’ of my circumstances affect how I live my faith; maybe you do the same thing. When life is sunny and all is going smoothly, we may feel loving, and it’s easy to share Christ’s love and joy with others.

But when difficulties come up, we might not feel Christ’s presence. We mistakenly think that means He isn’t paying attention to us. Or we think our faith must be weak because we don’t have any kind of warm and fuzzy glow inside of us when we pray. 

Faith is not a feeling. It’s a gift we’re given at our baptism. Faith lets us trust Christ, His promises, and the power that His Spirit gives us, even though we don’t feel Him, and even when we still have questions.

“Faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen.” 

– Hebrews 11:1 

Our Lord wants our faith to grow. In little increments, He will increase our faith each time we put our trust in Him. As we trust Him more and more, our faith grows, and our ability to deal lovingly with life’s challenges grows stronger. This isn’t dependent on our feelings, but on our decision to trust Him to give us His grace for every situation. The more we exercise our faith, the stronger it becomes.

For example, we thank God for our work and share His love with our colleagues. We ask Him for His wisdom in our work. When we pray, we picture Him wrapping His loving arms around those we’re praying for and trust He will bless them with whatever it is they need most. When happy, seemingly little ‘coincidences’ happen, we see them not as chance but as His intervention – His miracles. 

May our faith in Christ guide our actions, whether we feel Him with us or not.

“Lord, increase my faith!”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2023 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly to your inbox, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

p.s.

We continue to pray for an end to the war. If you’d like to help the people of Ukraine through the Cleveland Maidan Association, you may use either PayPal or a credit/debit card here:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/...