RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY…

There is a nursery rhyme that most of us remember from our childhood. I remember my mother singing it to me when I was a child. It had been raining for days in Sumiton, Alabama, and I was so frustrated because the rain was preventing me from going outside to play with my friends. It had given me a severe case of cabin fever. My mother sang to me: “Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day. Little Steve wants to play. Rain, rain go away.” Even that song frustrated me since I was so tired of the rain.

Into every life a little rain must fall, and sometimes the rain is emotionally drenching. It reminds me of a deeply moving fable that I came across many years ago. I think it will move you too. Enjoy.

FABLE OF THE DRENCHED EAGLE

It was raining in the forest. It had been raining for days, and all the birds and animals were drenched. The eagle, too, was drenched, and his spirits dampened as well, for his mate lay with a chill, a victim of the constant rain. There was no way to keep her dry, and the eagle looked on with despair as her life slowly drained away. His tears mingled with the rain when she died.

It was raining in the forest. The eagle could not stand the rain. It brought back memories too painful for him to bear. He rose up from the trees, leaping in flight to escape his thoughts. Higher and higher he climbed until finally he broke through the dark clouds into the dazzling sunlight that lay beyond. As the warm sun dried his wings, he suddenly realized that the healing sun had been there all the time his mate had needed it. The pain of knowledge learned too late was more than he could bear, and there were tears for the sun to dry.

It was raining in the forest. It had been raining for days, and all the birds and animals were drenched. The rabbit, too, was drenched, and her spirits dampened as well, for her child lay with a chill, a victim of the constant rain. She poured out her sad tale to all who would listen, but the other creatures, too, were victims of the rain, and none could help. An eagle happened by, and the rabbit began to tell her tale to him. But she had hardly started speaking when the eagle suddenly lifted the rabbit’s dying child onto his wings and began to circle quickly up into the dark and stormy clouds, on an errand he did not take time to explain. –Unknown Author

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

May our pain teach us how to help others to heal in the same way we ourselves have been healed.