The Rainclouds are coming… yes, the late rains are coming.
(The Coming Rain - R. Thomas Richard © 2010)
No, far more sweet than warm sunshine is the cloud of grace that comes.
More than the dry embrace, more still than clean rain wetness running down your face,
touching only the outside of things…
His grace that comes,
His late rains like the first and early rains, soak deep –
deep into the bones, deep into the heart, deep to flow life into hands and head and heart –
Life that cries Christ! Life that pierces all darkness and leaves none left –
Only light. Only Light, and the eternal sweet Grace that comes.
……………………………………
Deut 11:13 If, then, you truly heed my commandments which I enjoin on you today, loving and serving the LORD, your God, with all your heart and all your soul,
Deut 11:14 I will give the seasonal rain to your land, the early rain and the late rain, that you may have your grain, wine and oil to gather in;
Deut 11:15 and I will bring forth grass in your fields for your animals. Thus you may eat your fill.
Deut 11:16 But be careful lest your heart be so lured away that you serve other gods and worship them.
Deut 11:17 For then the wrath of the LORD will flare up against you and he will close up the heavens, so that no rain will fall, and the soil will not yield its crops, and you will soon perish from the good land he is giving you.
James 5:7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.
James 5:8 You too must be patient. Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand.
Thomas
Renew The Church! - website and Blog 
Dear Thomas,
Thanks again for your photography and poetry to draw us more closely to the Lord in His Word. The raincloud, early and late rains, the farmer: so many ways in which we can learn if we truly have “eyes to see”.
As in your previous post “Dialogue in the Wilderness”, there is the reality of a world in need of God and a longing. There is most of all, the reality of God Who loves us and gives us hope. The passage from James completes the passage in Deuteronomy it seems to me:
James 5:7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.
James 5:8 You too must be patient. Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand.
May our hearts be open to receive Him Who makes us firm in faith, patient in hope, and longing to be filled with the Living Water of His Charity.
By: Deborah on August 21, 2010
at 3:21 pm