Sunshine After The Rain

It’s been a funny old morning. First thing this morning there was a frost. The sun was shining but it was cold. I went for a walk along the beach. I returned home. It clouded over and started raining. Hanging the washing out on the line had to be postponed…

The clouds passed; the shower ended. I hung the washing out. There’s sunshine after the rain.

I remembered Elkie Brooks singing the old song:

I want to see the sunshine after the rain
I want to see bluebirds flying over the mountain again
Oh, where is the silver lining shining at the rainbow’s end?

I thought of friends who are going through rainy times… for some it’s a passing shower; for others it’s been a long dark storm. I prayed that during their rain they will know hope, resilience and determination… And that they will come through dark times to experience brightness and warmth. That they’ll enjoy sunshine after their rain.

I picked up my ‘Premier Christianity’ magazine… Peter tells the moving story of losing his 25-year-old daughter to suicide in October 2023. He writes about events, feelings, attitudes, his faith…

He concludes: ‘Jesus said: ‘Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.’’ …We did not think we were ‘blessed when Becky died but, since then, we’ve been comforted – by old friends who have walked with us from the start, new friends who have come alongside us and by the Comforter himself, and these relationships have been a blessing…’

I thought of friends whose lives have been affected by the suicide of a family member, their stormy times, and their experience of sunshine after the rain.

I turned to my Bible. My reading this morning starts, ‘These are the last words of David…’

David writes a final song, describing his God: ‘He is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings grass from the earth.’

Sunshine after the rain… David, Peter, Elkie… Friends… and me.