Rainy days are magical. They keep us in and let us go places we aren't, be with the people we love, focus on dreams , puddles or clouds.

To sit on a breezy porch with rain coming down tapping on the roof and streaming to the ground, well, what better time to reflect, to miss a loved one, to dream of a cabin in the mountains overlooking a stream. What better setting to romanticize life or wish a thought into the reality of the heart?

A cup of coffee, a friend or two; looking into a smokey valley or over a bay disappearing into the mist, the down-falling water opening our minds and hearts. Laughing at things we've done, planning things we'll do...missing the times never shared but oh how we wanted to.

The color of Fall, the smoke from a chimney, the smell of coffee and the steady sound of the rain. We look back on days gone by and know them fondly, softly. the misty sky filters out the bad that came with the good, and presents a clear, clean image of that special trip, day, week or person.

Rain brings a melody to our lives, filters sediment from our hearts, soothes a hurting soul. Like any time of reflection it may also bring back some pain or hurt, but it quickly softens the jagged edges that once tore at us with wicked barbs. Now there is meloncholy warmth, not burning anger or pain.

Rain brings out the philosopher in each of us and dulls extreme emotion. It changes our plans but deepends our lives. It brings with it sustanance for our souls, a balm for our heart, peace for an anxious mind.

We see whom we have become and remember who we'd wanted to be. We sip our coffee in anonimity and relish the thought that right now, to the rainy day people around us we can be whoever we want to be, whoever it is we want them to think we are. The sound of the stream or the breaking of waves brings us back to the moment, then our mind takes us away again to the next thought, the other Place where our heart longs to dwell - where we aren't who we are, but whom we long to be.

Father, thank you for abiding our ramblings, be they mental or physical. Thank you for the rain in our lives, in whatever form it comes. Reignite faded dreams and inspirations and through all of our wonderings, may we come back to the certainty that we are Yours and that You love us unconditionally.

In your Son's Holy name,

Brad