Pilgrim Rain

   As we begin, take a moment to light your candle, take a few deep breaths to center yourself and place yourself in the presence of God.  Be sure you have your journal and a pen or pencil.  We will use it today. 
Peace and Grace to you.  As I write this – it is raining outside my window.  Not a hard stormy rain, just one of those spring rains that feels like its purpose it to wash the world clean and truly bring forth new life.  It won’t be long and we will see the grass greening up and the trees bursting forth with buds and those first early leaves. 
I love poetry.  And one of my favorite poets is Edward Hays.  I have carried around a tattered copy of his book, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim for years.  Decades even.  One of his poems that speaks to days like today, A Rainy Day Poem, is worth sharing here.  

​I greet you, Pilgrim Rain, mystic, ancient traveler,
     visiting me today, washing over our land,
     soaking the earth and enriching it,
     nourishing growth with greening gifts of life.
But you are only passing by,
Briefly streaming past my door
     on your pilgrimage to the sea.
You are a pilgrim who blesses all you touch;
     O gentle yet powerful pilgrim,
     stone-carver and sand-maker,
     what hidden gift do you have for me?
“I teach you about illusions:
     like brief bubbles riding tiny trickles
     are ideas that you control your life;
     flick a switch and you create light,
     turn a key and power fires,
     just twist a dial and music plays,
You live in an illusion of control.
“But I. by my downpour descending from the sky
     and flowing past your door,
     have altered your life today;
     your outdoor plans now rearranged,
     your neat agendas put on hold.
Learn of me how little you control in your life;
     yet, by changing your present plans,
     I offer you entrance to a timeless reality,
     A chance to listen and be present
To the One who is always beyond.”
Thank you, Pilgrim Rain:
     it’s a small but beautiful gift
     to be reminded of the reality of life.
Soon the fireball of my daystar sun
     will pierce with long yellow fingers
     your mobile home of gray clouds,
     and the wind will push them onward
     to send you on your restless way again.
Thank you for your holy pilgrim’s gift:
     may I live like you, always on the move,
     my home the endless journey, sacred-sea-bound.
May I live like you, falling and rising;
Nourishing always, till I ascend, once and for all.
 
                                  Edward Hays, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim. 1989

So now, take these words.  Read through them again slowly.  Let them, like the rain, soak in a bit.  What do you hear?  What speaks to you?  What does Pilgrim Rain have to say to you?  Was your day today rearranged because of her downpour?  If so, how did you use the time you gained?  Have you ever before considered the rain as a call to pause and listen to God?  “The One who is always beyond”, as Hays writes? 
One of the things I really like about Hay’s body of work is that he writes in many different voices.  This poem, for example, comes very much from a Native American voice.  Thinking of your own heritage, how might you approach this poem differently?  For instance, if you are Norwegian and your family farms – would you have a different perspective on spring rains?  How might you approach the Pilgrim Rain in your circumstance?  Or, knowing that we have had some recent flooding – if that is foremost on your mind.  How does that affect your approach to Pilgrim Rain?  Take some time to journal your thoughts.  Remember that ultimately, our goal is to create space and time for God to work.  So if you are feeling frustration, explore that feeling.  Talk to God about it.  God can handle your feelings.  If you are feeling afraid, talk to Go about it.  God can provide you with calm like no other.
Take your time.  Then, when you feel ready.  Stand.  Stretch.  Offer you prayer of thanks to God for the Rain – for with the rain comes the rainbow – God’s first covenant with humanity. 
Go in Peace.