Day 11: free to dance in the rain

we have had a ton of rain here in the last 36 hours with little hope of it letting up until sometime tomorrow.  creeks flooding, streets closing, schools letting out early.  it gets messy in these parts.

with all this rain, i was reminded today of a post i wanted to write a couple of months ago and never got around to actually sitting down to write it.  i had been taking a walk early one morning, listening to my music, praising Jesus, when i came upon this little statue in someone's yard.

 it caught my attention because the song that was playing through my ear buds at the time was Let it Rain by Jesus Culture.   as i stood staring at this statue (and hoping the owner's weren't staring at me), i thought, isn't this so like me?  at the slightest hint of rain, how quick am i to put up my umbrella?  how terribly frightened am i that i might get wet? how often do i run for shelter from the storm?  as i listened to the lyrics,

"let it rain, let it rain.

open the floodgates of heaven."

i thought, what if the Lord wants me to experience the feeling of raindrops caressing my cheeks and dripping from the tip of my nose? what if he wants me to be drenched to the bones in his goodness and mercy?

then another song lyric came to mind:

"loves like a hurricane, i am a tree, bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy."

a hurricane.  his love is like a hurricane.  i don't know about you, but my idea of a hurricane does not sound inviting.  it conjures up images of boarded up windows and evacuations.  but i sense the Lord wants to maybe change our thinking here.  i sense he wants us to know that he wants to love us fierce.  he wants to saturate us with his love.  he wants us to surrender to the life he wants to pour into us and find freedom in the floods of heaven that will wash over us.  

i've been following a fellow blogger and influence member's 31 day series on "dance parties in the rain", and i've loved every post because she paints such a beautiful picture of what it means to let go and dance with joy and embrace the rain.  i think of times as a kid when i've run out into the rain and thrown my arms up and opened my face to the clouds.  i've tasted raindrops on my tongue and splashed with reckless abandon in the puddles. 

and i think melody is certainly on to something here because i believe i hear the Father beckoning us to put away our umbrellas and come and dance and sing and jump and open ourselves to the rains of his love.  

what could be more freeing than that??

(i couldn't find who to give credit to for this photo, i'm sorry!) 

{i'm joining in with the nester in the 31 days blogging challenge. you can check out other topics here!}