POUR ON

pour (verb): to flow out in great quantities or with force; to supply or produce freely  

“God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done.” 2 Cor. 9:8 MSG

In Washington, aptly named the Evergreen State, it rains. A LOT. 105 days and 34 inches a year. Rain is so common here that we have all kinds of words to describe the nuances in our daily forecasts. Occasional showers, light rain, drizzle, steady rain, freezing rain, and thunderstorms likely are just a few of these. The majority of them–at least for natives like me–do not require an umbrella.

But there is one kind of rain that happens a few times every year that can only be described as a literal downpour. This deluge comes on suddenly–unpredictably–battering the rooftops and bubbling up in the streets. It soaks us to the skin in seconds, drenching any possibility of a good hair day and making us wonder if maybe we do have an umbrella somewhere…

And I love this kind. Comfortably inside, I stare out the window–impressed with the power, the noise, the sheer amount of water washing over everything around me. Caught outside, I gleefully submit to its force.  I open my arms and squint up to the sky, drinking in the huge, sloshy drops and letting them run down my face.

Is this the kind of pouring that God does?

The kind that makes us stop and stare and want to run outside and play in it?

“God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways” 

Yes. And he loves to.  When he pours his blessings on, I don’t want to just duck my head or stand under an umbrella and miss it all. When he surprises me with this abundance of goodness that I do not deserve, I want to get all soaking-wet; turning my face up to him. And I want to take a moment to thank him, noticing and truly appreciating his generous gifts of peace, grace, freedom, hope, and love that are overflowing my world.

“…so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do whatever needs to be done.”

Like the lush, gorgeous, every-possible-shade-of-green state that I live in, the evidence of all this pouring out of God’s love and blessings is so fresh, so needed, so life-giving. And there is so much to share with the people around us. Not only does he soak us with love to draw us close, he continues to flow this love through us so that we can offer to everyone the living water that we so freely drink. And we can be ready–with his blessings of patience, creativity, compassion, wisdom, and strength–to do anything and everything with him.

Invite Him in: Let him pour onto you his abundant blessings of everything you need right now. Take a moment to notice the giant drops of love, hope, grace, and peace that he is raining down on you. Look up, look around, and drink them in. Thank him for his continual stream of more than enough living water for everyone in your life­–and especially for you.