Solstice Rain Dance

I confess that my first thought this morning, as I heard the steady drumbeat of rain on my window, was not "Oh terrific, a rainy day!"  Yet when I walked outside, I felt the earth receiving the blessing of water with thanksgiving and so I immersed myself in it for a minute or two.  I felt the rain on my face...the cooling refreshment of it; I listened to the birds rejoicing, and noticed the beauty of raindrops on flower petals in the early morning light.

 I think of the areas in the American west that are experiencing severe drought right now and the people who are praying for rain. Like the Native Americans, who considered rain to be a blessing and performed ceremonial rain dances to invoke the skies to open and rain to fall, they long for the cooling refreshment of water from the sky.

 Like those who lived before the days of plumbing, garden hoses and irrigation systems, when people relied on rain to keep their crops alive, those living in drought need rain to sustain them. Earth's water, falling from the sky, has always and will continue to be, essential to our survival.  

Today, here, right now, on the first official day of summer, I give thanks for the blessing of rain and for all the gifts of the earth.  I look outside and see that the sun is now shining and know that all growing things, nourished by the rain, will now turn to the sun...flowers opening up to embrace the morning, blades of grass arching upward, birds flapping the rain from their wings and rejoicing in the summer light.

As we look forward to the long summer days ahead, may we give thanks to God and His beautiful creation, so intricately designed and interconnected. May we breathe the freshly washed air and embrace the Summer Solstice.  May we dance in praise of rain and sun and all growing things!