Rainy Day

Today is the second full day of our second RV trip, and it’s raining cats and dogs. There’s water, water, everywhere, and wind, too. We have muddy puddles all around us, and steady streams are cascading from the awnings of our slides ... and apparently some trash is blowing onto our site.

We knew we would have days like this. After all, this is spring in North Carolina. Our oldest is disappointed that we can’t go hiking, but overall the kids are taking it pretty well. We knew this was coming, so they spent most of the day yesterday playing outside, and we came prepared.

What to do on a rainy day at a campground? First of all, give thanks that we are in an RV. I well remember a very rainy camping trip ... with three smaller boys ... in a tent. We made the most of it then, too, with card games and coloring books, and finally we resorted to driving to the nearest town to eat at a restaurant just to have four walls around us and a roof over our dry heads while we enjoyed hot food. This time, we have all the comforts of home.

So, we play games ...

and color ...

and eat ...

and play with toys ...

and do laundry ...

and watch movies ...

and pull out the reading material ...

and enjoy some coffee ...

and maybe take some photos and write a fairly boring blog post. Oh, and at some point I need to clean. Yeah, you know, pretty much what we do on a rainy day at home, except at home I have much more to distract, more places to be, people to see, things to do in and out of the house.

No need to worry about us or think that we might be bored or in any way suffering due to inches of water raining on our camping parade. I’m getting the opportunity to practice what I quoted on my Facebook timeline yesterday: 

“Time’s this precious currency, and only the slow spend it wisely enough to be rich. If we actually had to buy our time, would we spend it more wisely -- spend it more slowly? (God’s Word never says ‘Hurry up.’ God’s words only whisper: ‘Wake up.’)” --Ann Voskamp

I know at home the words “Hurry up!” are too often on my lips. I don’t always spend my time wisely or well. I don’t have babies anymore, and my children will be “littles” only a little while longer. Before I know it, I’ll have three teenage boys on my hands. I’ll be grasping at snatches of their childhood, realizing it will soon be gone ... forever. That’s why I wanted to do this RV thing now -- getting away from some of that which distracts and causes me to forget to spend my time slowly and wisely, forcing ourselves to disconnect and unplug and get into nature, reminding me to hold tightly to the child who wants to sit in my lap because soon he’ll be bigger than I.

Sometimes we need a good rain to wash away the excess, clean up, and nourish the land for new life and growth. Today’s rain is giving me the chance to clean up the clutter and excess in my soul, and I’m allowing space for the Lord to nourish me, gently remind me of truths that often get drowned out by so much life noise, and breathe some new life into my family as we grow closer through quality time, laughter, and snuggles. So bring on the rain. The sun will shine again, and we’ll play and hike and appreciate it even more.