"Let's run through the rain!"

A YOUNG MOTHER’S CARE TO FORM A LIFE

She must have been 6 years old, the beautiful brown-haired, freckled-faced little image of innocence. And this day it was pouring outside, the kind of rain that gushes over the tops of the rain gutters. The parking lot drains were filled to capacity as huge puddles laked around the parked cars. Many of us stood under the awning or just inside the door of Walmart. We waited, some patiently and others aggravated because the rains messed with their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rain fall, getting lost in the sounds and sights of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world.

Then we heard a child’s voice, so sweet as it broke through the hypnotic trance of the rains. "Mom, let's run through the rain," she said. "What?" her mother asked. "Let's run through the rain!" The mother responded, "No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit.” The child waited a minute and repeated, "Mom. Let's run through the rain." Her mother explained, "We'll get soaked if we do." The child tugged at her arm, saying, "No we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning." Her mother questioned, "This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?" Then the little girl recounted her words. "Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, ‘If God can get us through this, He can get us through anything!’"

The people stopped silent while you couldn't hear anything but the rain. And no one came or left as the mother paused and thought for a moment about what to say. Some might laugh it off or scold her as silly. Others might ignore her. But this was a moment of affirmation, a time when her innocent trust could be nurtured to bloom into faith. And then we heard her mother say, "Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If God lets us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing." And off they ran!

Watching, the crowd smiled and laughed as they darted past the cars and right through some of the puddles. They held shopping bags over their heads but they were obviously being soaked. Then other shoppers made their break from the store, running through the parking lot while screaming and laughing like children all the way to their cars.

I want to believe that somewhere along the road in life, that young mother will find herself reflecting on those moments together. They had captured a memory, like the pictures of a scrapbook of some of their most cherished memories. Maybe watching her daughter graduate, she will reflect upon that rainy day. And maybe again if God spared the little girl’s Daddy to walk her down the aisle on her wedding day. And I suspect this mother and daughter will smile and laugh again as their hearts beat a little faster. And their smiles that day will simply tell the world how much they love each other. But only those two will share that precious moment of when they ran through the rain, somehow believing that God would get them through.

And Yes, I did too. I ran and I got wet. I needed washing too.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).


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