This morning I went running in a very light and soft rain. I wouldn’t have run outside if it had been pouring with rain; I don’t like getting my running shoes squeaky wet and my clothes soaked. This felt more like a thick mist, and it was highly invigorating. It had been raining all night, and the air smelled wonderfully pine-fresh. The morning was hushed, and it was just me and the wide expanse of dark sky stretched above me with a hint of the dawn in the east. 

I lifted my face to the sky and suddenly had to smile. Why? Ever since I was a little girl of about 6 years old I can remember my mom telling me to lift my face to the sky when it rains, because “rain makes your face beautiful.” Or so she said. I guess that notion came in handy when she needed to lift my spirits on a rainy day when I couldn’t go outside to play, or if we happened to get caught in the rain while walking somewhere. But I believed her and dutifully lifted my face for the rain to wash it whenever I had the opportunity. And more than 30 years later I’m still doing it! What’s more, I’m telling my children to do it as well. It has become some kind of family tradition—something we do when it rains and we’re outside. It has been passed on from one generation to the next. What may have been one of those inspired moments when God gives a mother the right words for her children in a specific situation has turned into a wonderful lifelong memory and source of encouragement. Forget the dark clouds and hold your face into the rain. Turn the apparent obstacles into an opportunity. Lift your face to the sky, because rain makes it beautiful! 

Although science likely doesn’t support this premise, the passing on of these positive and encouraging words has created long-lasting memories for me. These small words and traditions are woven into the fabric of our family histories, and when we hand them down from one generation to another, we might actually be doing something deeply spiritual: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deut. 6:5-7, ESV).^* 

Saying encouraging and positive words to our children—words that remind us and them of God’s continual love, even in the face of pelting rainstorms that will surely come our way—may create a small but lasting legacy that will ring all the way into eternity.

I still don’t like rainy days, because I relish being outdoors and playing with my boys or working in the yard and enjoying nature. But then I think of my mom and smile. I go outside and look up, holding my face high, as I invite my three boys to do the same.

Let it rain; let it rain.

* Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.