Simple Lessons

At times I admire the simplest things because they often contain the greatest lessons.

We have a comical groundhog that lives at the base of our backyard bur oak tree. At its very top is a squirrel’s nest, high above even our home. A few bunnies visit, and a nursery of deer lives in the nearby woods just yards away. Red foxes also wander through from places I do not know. All have endured the weeks of oppressive heat that this arid summer has laid upon us.

Out in the yard, I heard the growing patter of approaching rain from the west. Just before it arrived, I briskly walked through the doorway into our home as the sudden deluge swept across the yard. The rain fell heavily, and the nearby cornfields vanished into the haze.

After a ten-minute downpour, the cloud moved onward, and what it left behind was a swamped backyard. Our usually dry creek bed had become a flowing, crystal river. Its rippling waters glistened in the passing breeze. At first, I was perturbed by the almost apocalyptic sight. The drenched landscape was strewn with leaves and debris, and my heart sank.

Then, as if on cue, nature’s music began.

The finches started to sing as if in celebration, darting back and forth between the trees. My wife and I watched as a baby deer gracefully strolled out of the woods and began to drink from the flowing stream. Another soon followed, and then their mother. The rolling cloud drifted eastward as life returned with renewed zeal. Every creature seemed so appreciative of the gift the brief deluge had left behind. At that moment, I learned to appreciate it, as well.

I remained fascinated by the dry creek transformed into a river. Perhaps only once a year do we see it flow. From a distance, it danced in the light as it moved. With startling suddenness, life sprang forth around it as the parched landscape seemed to blossom with thanksgiving.

The world was thirsty for the water of life.

Sometimes clouds leave gifts from above. Whether we appreciate them or not seems to be a matter of perspective.

“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:1–2)