April Showers bring May Flowers
April showers bring May flowers.
What will your May flowers be?
This April has opened with a storm unlike any other. The clouds are rolling in. The wind is picking up. The thunder that loomed in the distance is inching closer and booming over our homes. It feels dark and scary. We pull out our phones and open our weather apps to see just how long this storm is supposed to last, but the radar only increases our heart rates. There seems to be no end in sight. Can it rain forever?
Rainy seasons have their purpose. They might ruin our outdoor events, delay our plans, or even cause us to sing a song asking for them to go away, but with them comes a necessary ingredient for life. The saying goes, “April showers bring May flowers”. Without the rainy days of April, we would not have the budding of Spring in May. What if the things we sow in this storm, will be the things we reap when it’s over?
What if the moments we are spending socially isolated with our family blooms forth stronger bonds, sweeter memories, and renewed love?
What if the time we take to research, plan, or study for our professional jobs bursts forth new opportunities for growth and prosperity in our workplace?
What if the hours and days we spend on our knees and in the Word through this storm, end up leading us into the sweetest place our relationship with Jesus has ever been?
What if the showers of this storm are not wasted waters rushing into gutters, but collected waters filling dry wells, nourishing planted seeds, and spurring new life? Just the sheer thought of this makes me want to stand outside with my arms and mouth wide open among empty buckets placed all over my yard in an attempt to collect every drop of rain I possibly can! Can you see it? I believe that today’s showers will indeed be tomorrow’s flowers.
Showers have long been a meaningful word of celebration. We throw a wedding shower or a bridal shower in celebration of an upcoming marriage. We throw a baby shower in anticipation of a new life joining the world. What if, through this storm shower, we lived in anticipation of the flowers that are yet to come? I am not suggesting that we celebrate the sickness, but rather that we don’t waste the opportunity to recognize what God works for our good. Even pain and sickness can bring forth goodness.
I propose we celebrate what showers bring.
I propose we declare God’s goodness to shower over our homes, our cities, our nations, and our world.
I propose we get on our rain boots, pop open our umbrellas, and find a song that makes us dance in the rain.
I propose we intentionally water the areas of our lives we want to see burst forth with growth.
I was actually standing IN the shower this morning when I got this word from the Lord. (If you haven’t showered yet today, trust me, even in social isolation showering is worth it.) I was overwhelmed with the sense that God has things in store He is just waiting to shower down upon us. Goodness and mercy. Wisdom and understanding. Love and justice. Peace and life everlasting.
Are your empty buckets ready? Are your arms wide open? Are you ready to receive?
April showers bring May flowers. What will your May flowers be?
PS. If you missed out on the release of my FREE 7 day devotional entitled “Calming the Corona Chaos”, please email me and I will gladly send you your very own copy!
His Kingdom come, His will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
