I love rain. There, I said it. I love the smell of it. I love the sound of it. I don't really love the taste of it, but I could probably learn to love that too. I love the feeling of it hitting my hair and face and arms and shoulders and neck, the soft tapping and dripping, almost like the sky is using my body as a living drum. I think of the times when I was a kid and my dad and I would go out on our front deck, eat an orange, and play in the rain. I would run through the puddles like I could walk or glide across the water, until I landed ankle-deep in what was probably Salmonella-ridden water. But I didn't care. The splash alone was a pay-off greater than getting a deadly infection.
The splash would come up and hit my legs and shins like a snare drum. Pop pop pop. Like a machine gun round, all the drops hit in rapid succession and my previously dry legs became streaked with mud and dirt and rain water. It was magic.
The water from below, though, was nowhere as awe-inspiring as the rain falling from the sky. As a kid I didn't care that the clouds I loved to watch on a sunny day were at this time emptying themselves on the Earth because the gaseous form they were in was too much to hold and therefore needed to be converted to water and fall on me. I had no clue. All I knew was what I saw, and what I saw was water from above coming down so I could play in it. It didn't matter how much rain was falling, heavy or light I played and laughed with all my might, because that was all I knew.
The rain praises the Lord as it falls from the sky. Each strike or fall or drip or tap on a person, on us living drums, is a sound of the natural worship the Creation offers back to the Creator. The splashes of children playing in rain puddles is pleasing to the Lord. It is His Creation calling back to Him in thanks and praise for showing His might and love and playfulness. Imagine Christ as a child, running through the streets of Bethlehem or Jerusalem after a rain storm, playing with the other children, dancing in rain puddles, playing with His own creation! That is amazing!! Our Creator played with His Creation, and it praised Him for it. At least I like to think so.
