Condsider the Rain--Just One Drop

As I sit on break time at work, I'm enthralled with something glistening gold and vibrantly hanging from the bush. I peer and squint to try to see if someone lost a bracelet or a ring in the bush but as I do, it moves. Hmmm...it almost looks like a lightening bug in a way--tiny and blinkety-blinking away. Even though it appears to move, it's still there--not really moving. Interesting. I see so many different colors as it goes thru the color spectrum. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue (ish), Indigo & Violet. Sometimes it stays one of those colors for what seems like a minute (in reality it must be 1-2 seconds). Mostly it stays "gold and yellowish" but the "green keeps glistening too." I am intrigued by this little tiny speck that cannot be any bigger than a bug. What is it and how does it get to be so cool? Then it starts to hit me....uh oh...it's one of those things I'm gonna have to figure out and research and over analyze just so I can understand where I am at in my life at that particular time while just sitting on the step at break time. Before I continue, I think it's only fair for me to share with the readers (lol..if there are any) that the "tiny glistening goldy-blinkety-blink speck" is a single raindrop nestled between a bush.

Now, if you know anything about me, the first thing I do is observe something. Then, I research information on the stuff I've observed. Next, I meditate on it, over analyze it and put it "in a place" of my life (Life Application). Here goes the facts about raindrops that apply to me and this life lesson.

In order to have rain you must have a cloud--a cloud is made up of water in the air (water vapor.) Along with this water are tiny particles called condensation nuclei--for instance, the little pieces of salt leftover after sea water evaporates or a particle of dust or smoke. Condensation occurs when the water vapor wraps itself around the tiny particles. Each particle (surrounded by water) becomes a tiny droplet between 0.0001 and 0.005 centimeter in diameter. (The particles range in size, therefore, the droplets range in size.) However, these droplets are too light to fall out of the sky. How will they get big enough to fall?

Picture a huge room full of tiny droplets milling around. If one droplet bumps into another droplet, the bigger droplet will "eat" the smaller droplet. This new bigger droplet will bump into other smaller droplets and become even bigger--this is called coalescence. Soon the droplet is so heavy that the cloud (or the room) can no longer hold it up and it starts falling. As it falls it eats up even more droplets. We can call the growing droplet a raindrop as soon as it reaches the size of 0.5mm in diameter or bigger. If it gets any larger than 4 millimeters, however, it will usually split into two separate drops.

The raindrop will continue falling until it reaches the ground. As it falls, sometimes a gust of wind (updraft) will force the drop back up into the cloud where it continues eating other droplets and getting bigger. When the drops finally reach the ground, the biggest drops will be the ones that bumped into and coalesced with the most droplets. The smaller drops are the ones that didn't run into as many droplets. Raindrops are different sizes for two primary reasons.

1. initial differences in particle (condensation nuclei) size
2. different rates of coalescence.
3. THIS INFORMATION WAS PROVIDED BY USGS courtesy of University of Idaho

Ok, so enough of the scientific fact as to how raindrops form and vary in size however, I find this lesson very important to "tie in" and get to the point that I feel was meant for me to understand. As you just read, "dirt/dust/salt" etc. are entrapped around these molecules and then fall and latch onto others or get to heavy and repeatedly split. I really believe that in my life, "all of the junk/drama/hard struggles" I face are the "dirt" that form my rain drops. The drops get bigger and bigger some times and fall fall fall and keep on falling. Sometimes, those drops split and form smaller drops as I dissect those problems and begin to understand how they were formed. Sometimes, I am not meant to understand how they arrived and have to accept that somethings are uncontrollable and just meant for my learning. Other times, those drops get smaller and smaller because other "junk/problems (rain drops) form off of those initial drops (problems). I definitely don't have life, problems, love or God figured out but I do know that my perspective always needs readjusting.

Some would say these things are all a coincidence, some would say they are God ordained and written for my learning. I have to choose the latter because shortly after I started this post on rain drops, unbeknown to my friend, he sent me an encouraging text that read the following:

"Consider the rain, something we have no control over that we sometimes let discourage and depress us; yet it brings growth, renewal and cleansing among other things. Just like the trials and circumstances in our life, they're not what we want, but through them God can bring growth, renewal, and cleansing. So when it rains, let it remind us that God is working all things together for good to them that love Him and are called according to His purpose."

I am thankful for noticing that "tiny glistening goldy-blinkety-blink speck" to discover it was a raindrop. I am thankful that I researched "how raindrops" are formed. I am thankful that my friend decided to randomly text a bunch of his friends an "inspiring message." Yup, this is definitely all God ordained to remind us that God is still working all things together for good to them that love Him. This is confirmation to me that I am called according to His purpose. I will consider the rain and just one drop in hopes that you too would consider the rain!