Rain

TUES., MAY 24, 1988, 6:23 AM
FARM, STUDY

You wonder, with some reason, whether I can fill a total Teaching on rain, this weather condition you now are experiencing. You know that I have accomplished this before, with themes even more narrow, yet rain doesn’t seem to have great spiritual possibilities. You will try Me, though, won’t you?

The ground has been dry, with the dust swirling, and there was much need for rain in this part of the country. Now rain has fallen for three days, and you now wish for the sunshine again. Sunshine and dryness are seen, generally, as the good days. Cloudy, rainy, windy days, beyond those necessary to break a drought, are seen as unpleasant, even undesirable. Lack of spiritual maturity shows in the desire for constant pleasantness, even when it is known that the rain is needed and useful.

A rough gauge of spiritual maturity is the genuine acceptance of “For everything there is a season…” This represents the knowledge that I, the Creator, am in full charge of this earth, and that ecological balance is a necessity for continuing life. In spiritual terms it means there must be losses as well as gains. There must be illness and disability. There must be pain and suffering. There must be death, both sudden and long-in-coming. The rain can fall softly and gently. It also can fall in destructive torrents. When the ground is soaked, the water runs off in streams, taking good soil with it. It may seem as disastrous as the parched dryness. A season… and the balance is rarely perfectly even.

Now that you have seeds in the ground and plants growing you have more appreciation for rain. Those who simply go to the market and buy food, which seems as plentiful in dry weather as in wet, lose or never develop the sense of dependence on rain for growth. You are privileged to experience the value of this falling moisture directly, and I urge you, for mostly spiritual reasons, to continue to plant… to devote some time to this gardening enterprise. I realize the pressures you feel to do and accomplish much. I say, in the midst of demands, do not waste the advantage this rain offers in the preparing of soil and planting. From these experiences you shall learn much.

Rain is that which comes from above that makes growth possible. The spirit grows most assuredly when it experiences the spiritual equivalent of rain from heaven. This can come in the form of Bible study, the reading of inspirational writings, participation in worship services, prayer, and open discernment of how I function, daily, in the earth. You have this excellent source, which is like rain and manna combined. It is direct “spiritual food,” and it is that which makes the spirit apparent in so much that you do. You can receive regular early morning rain, and yet you stay away. I am pleased when you are thankful and receptive, as well.

In most instances I do not send rain, to fall upon the just and the unjust. Rain is one of the evidences of the balanced ecological system I have created. The sun draws the water up from the earth, the lakes, and the seas, and then redistributes it as rain. With all of the sophisticated scientific knowledge and capacities, it still is difficult to predict rain exactly… or to cause it to rain or not rain. Your culture has such a desire to control matters in the earth, even the rain that falls. And you shall find that the result of your high entropy lifestyle, as a culture, will adversely affect rain patterns. When you “mess with” My system you rarely make it totally better.