Refresh Our Soul

 

In the middle of a long run of 109 degree days, and an even longer run of dry weather, we had a brief shower. It didn’t last long and it wasn’t substantial in terms of the amount of precipitation, but it was such a welcome break from the monotony of the heat wave.

As I walked across the parking lot in the aftermath of the shower, the sun was just beginning to burn its way back through the clouds. The water had not yet evaporated from the sizzling concrete. In the middle of this harsh summer, the scene, however fleeting, appeared to me to be a snapshot of the word “refresh”.

The prophet Jeremiah writes, “For I satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes.” We can sometimes be in need of refreshing. We can sometimes feel that our lives are parched and dry. We can sometimes feel lost in a desert, beaten down by the sun and heat of a harsh time in life.

That is when we need to remember these words that speak of God’s loving care for us. We will not languish forever. There is a shower in our future. It may be brief. It may not end the drought. But it will refresh our soul. It will remind us that life was not always like this, nor shall it forever be. The shower of refreshing, however brief, reminds us that we are not alone in the desert. God is with us.

Peace.