IT was St Swithun’s Day on Tuesday July 15.

In folklore it was traditionally believed that if it rained on St Swithun’s Day it would rain for 40 days afterwards, or vice versa.

“St Swithun’s day if thou dost rain, for forty days it will remain.

“St Swithun’s day if thou be fair, for forty days ‘twill rain no more.”

The Bible talks about rain on many occasions, partly because it is something we have no real control over and partly because it rains on everyone regardless of their belief or motivation.

Once again climate change is in the news with protests taking place in several towns and cities and the global trend appears to be towards more extreme weather events.

There is an account of persistent rain in the days of Noah when according to scripture god allowed the rain to flood the whole earth so that only Noah and his immediate family, oh and a host of animals of all descriptions, were saved from utter destruction.

The historical account of a great flood is also found in other writings from Samaria, Babylon and Mesopotamia.

However, in the biblical account, God then allowed the dry land to return and promised that he would not send such devastation again and as a sign he placed a rainbow in the sky to remind him of his promise to all mankind.

With that promise came blessings which everyone would be free to enjoy provided they continued to obey God’s commands.

We now live in the days of blessing but the question is, are we still keeping God’s commands?

One of which may be interpreted as caring for the place where we live.

A younger generation is questioning how well we are looking after the earth and what the legacy of the present generation will be.

We largely have free will to choose, which is another of God’s blessings, but it is important that we choose wisely in all that we do.