It is completely inappropriate to gripe about rain in Savannah when there is flooding from a hurricane in East Texas.  So let me be completely inappropriate – my goodness, will it ever stop raining in Savannah?

The days have been so grey. My husband, who lived many years in Portland, Oregon where the sun doesn’t shine for months, is beginning to make comparisons.  He’s happy that the weather has cooled, but even that doesn’t help me.  I prefer the heat.

In church on Sunday, before we took the offering, where I always remind people of what we have to be thankful for, I said that we need to be thankful even for the rain.  There were groans.  Maybe that was me.  I meant what I said though – somehow God knows what we need and perhaps we need all this rain, or something else in the world does.  Certainly the normally dying grass is loving it.

I am generally a pretty happy person – a sunshiny personality you might say.  So even in the grey days I am looking for the bright spots, bouncing back and forth between grumpy/morose and optimistic/droll.  I can hear a Carolina wren outside the window somewhere – that is cheery.  And at least the drizzle has finally stopped – oh wait, there it goes again!

My son, who doesn’t really like the grumpy morose version of mommy, is always looking for something to help with the bounce back to cheeriness.  He doesn’t even have to be here to make it happen.  On grey days, I remember back to another grey monotony of days in Savannah when I was driving him to pre-K.  I was morose.  I was bitterly decrying the gloomy grey clouds – again!  And his little voice piped up from the back of the car: “What’s wrong with cloudy days, Mom?”

So, I tried to explain.  Grey days make you feel glum.  They are just so… they are just so… they are just so … colorless.  There, that was something a little kid could understand, right?

“Mom, isn’t grey a color?” he asked, straight face, no guile.

You see, my son, long past his preK days now, loves rainy days.  It is not uncommon for him even now in all his 5^th grade awesomeness to head into the backyard to dance around in the rain.  He’s not a big fan of the dark, but grey days are just fine with him.  After all – isn’t grey a color too?

Some of the most difficult days of my life have happened in bright sunshine.  I can remember losing heat in Washington DC for a week after an ice storm, my parents’ funerals, 9/11 in Boston – ultimately all bathed in sunshine, though it did sprinkle just as we gathered at the graveside for Dad’s burial.  The weather doesn’t determine what our day is going to be like nearly as much as our attitude.  Even four-year-olds know that!

And so, I remember that grey is a color too.  I know there is some debate about that scientifically, but as long as it is in my Crayola 64-pack, I’m going with preK wisdom.  And the red coleus in the backyard looks pretty amazing set against the gloomy day.  And God keeps on working in the rain and the sunshine – and the darkness of night, so I’d better keep on working too.

I am praying for all those with real rain problems to think about.  Those in Texas with too much.  Those around the world with far too little.  Those on whom the gloom of depression and hopelessness sits so heavy.  May we all be blessed to believe that God does know our plight and will give us what we need and what the world needs.

Are you a rainy day person or do you prefer the sunshine?  Do you ever use the grey crayon in your pack of Crayolas?  If there is something in your life now that is heavy, could it be something that is needed elsewhere or for another purpose?  What else can rainy days mean for you?