Treasure - Because it Rained This Morning...

     It rained this morning.

     Hmm...  If you read this blog to learn more about pursuing treasure, this opening is disappointing; in fact it looks a little sad to me, too!

     However, if you are a desert dweller, used to temperatures over 100 degrees this time of year, you may have smiled as you read that sentence. My porch, yard, the streets and even mountains had a layer of brown dust, that left everything looking dry and parched - and, well, dusty!

     So I watched it rain this morning. Watched as the rocks in the back yard showed off colors hidden underneath the dust; as the plants sprang to life, almost dancing with each drop that bounced off their leaves. Stood for a long time, coffee cup in hand, grateful for the monsoon rain and the cooler air it brought.

Mountains obscured by clouds as the rain fell this morning.

     Because, when you live in the desert, rain is a treasure.

     Each day God gives us a unique work of art in the sky, no two days are ever identical, with perfect colors and composition. Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel doesn't compare to the vibrant oranges, reds and purples of a sun slipping below the mountains. It's right in front of us, a priceless gift from God. What happens when I become too busy to watch a sunrise, or look up on a dark night, at the stars that feel so close?

     Or stop watching the rain fall on the hard desert ground? 

     Or forget to thank God for all of it?

      I have to admit, when I become that busy in my "pursuit of treasure", I will be pursuing the wrong treasure. And though it's fun to find those sparkling rhinestones - they can't compare with the beauty of God's creation, or the feeling I had... 

     Because...

     It rained this morning.

"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; and have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas, O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!"

Psalm 8:3-9