We've all heard it... "April showers bring May flowers" but here in the Northwest, our April showers had us singing... "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow... no no no!" Even though the snow offered lots of fun conversation and belated sledding for the kids, most of us, including myself, are more than ready for the rain, hail and snow showers to end and the May flowers to take their rightful place.

So often, that's how it is with life as well, isn't it? We long for the beauty and bounty of God's richest blessings, but we don't want the rain... definitely not the storms that so often accompany them... even though we know the rain is necessary to produce the very beauty and bounty our hearts seek.

But there's a waiting in the rain, isn't there? And in this microwave, hurry-up culture, we don't usuallly like waiting. Waiting for the sun to shine again. Waiting for the flowers to bloom. Waiting for the prayer to be answered, the issue to be resolved, the peace to be restored, or the joy of the Lord to once again take it's rightful place on the throne of our hearts.

The Bible tells us that as we, with unveiled faces, behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed into the same image... the image of Jesus...from glory to glory. But most often, in between the glories... comes the rain. The tempest rains of trials and tribulations that initiate and acommadate the growth and glory we long for and need. The spiritual seeds of God's grace need rain... require the rain... to take root, grow, blossom and bear fruit. There is a time to sit in the rain and know God is with us there... and the time will come when we will smell the fragrance of the blossom and taste the fruit produced in the waiting.

There's been a fair share of rain and stormy weather in my life lately. And not just the wet stuff falling outside the window as I write. Nothing life threatening. Nothing uncommon to many. Just circumstances that have brought an intense and almost painful unknowing of the future lately. Circumstances that have at moments even made me feel hopeless, though I know I'm not. But it's in those moments that I must choose to look into the mirror that holds the image of my Lord and trust Him as the Master Gardener of my heart, trusting Him and allowing Him to transform me. And as I do... as I fix my eyes on the glory of the One who gave His life, so I could find mine in Him, my hope truly is renewed and my joy restored.

May the glory of the Lord shine upon you and bring you hope in whatever you're waiting on... for the May flowers will come... you just wait and see!