It’s dark outside – really dark, for being a little after 8am. Truth be told, it’s one of the nicest looking mornings we have had in who knows how long. You see – it’s going to rain.
I know I have dwelt on precipitation of all sorts over the past number of months, but up here in the Northland, where we are tied so close to the land, rain at the right time makes all the difference in the world. I’ve said before that Cheri is from a farm family, in the northern part of the Red River Valley, and just Monday they completed the first harvest of the year, which is wheat. With that all combined and in the bins, a nice strong soaking rainstorm would give just what was needed to help the remaining crops of beans, corn, sugar beets and others grow for the next month like they need to. Since July 1st, 51 days ago, the total rainfall we have received has been 2/3s of an inch. Take your thumb and forefinger and measure .66 inches in the air – not much at all, and our lawn, our shrub and bush garden and our potted plants all have recognized that, as they have continued to go brown and shrivel, and die off. Even to water daily doesn’t seem to help them overcome our 90+ degree afternoons. Now, I know across the country, the weather has been plain goofy. Out west, the drought is as severe as it is here, with wildfires to add to it. East and South, now is the time for the hurricanes to come and create all sorts of floods and messes. I feel bad for their struggles as well, and it all just goes to prove that humans have very little power over the forces of nature. We can’t make it rain, or make it stop, or make the day a beautiful 78 degrees and sunshine and a light breeze. Frankly, we just aren’t on that committee… So what we do, day after day, is wish and wait. When you think about it, that’s a pretty powerless approach to take, but we simply have no other choice, do we? There is no magic involved, no force of will, no stomping of feet demanding that it rain, or stop raining, or whatever. So, we wish that the rains would come, or not come, and we wait to see – not if the wishes come true, but what simply is going to come, or not come. For 51 days we have waited, almost without hope finally, and then, due to some kind of cold front, or moisture from the Gulf, or who knows what that the weather folks on TV say, then it looks like it might rain. It’s just gotten even darker, and the rain gauge on my weather station says we have already gotten .06 inches, just since I have been writing. Wonderful… Let me say, that as nice as the sound of thunder and pounding rain on the windows is this Friday morning, I am glad I’m not in charge of it all, or that any of us has control over the course of nature. Imagine what a huge mess it would be, if weather happened by majority vote? Or whether I picked rain and my next door neighbor wants sun for their backyard cookout? What an utter disaster if you and I were indeed the boss of the world… Instead, it remains in God’s hands, as the rain falls, and doesn’t fall all in the seasons. And, you see, we are blessed with the rain, and also blessed with the sun, and with the wind and the calm, and in a few months, the snow, and then the snow melting as around the earth, all we can do with the weather – is to receive. And so we wish, and we wait. Each day, it seems, the best and most honest thing we can do, is to offer our hopes to God, and then stand with our hands open to heaven, and wait patiently for whatever proceeds from God’s blessed choice. Up to .22 inches so far… So, the next time you and I are dissatisfied with the weather at hand, perhaps the most faithful and grateful and humble things we can do in the middle of it all, is to wish, and then wait. And to give thanks that we have shelter over our heads, and electricity to light and heat and cool and cook. Probably the best approach would be to always remember: THIS is the day the Lord has made – rain or sun – let us rejoice and be glad in it. And today, I am glad for the rain – over .27” right now – and still pouring… Saying for the day: Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out. John Wooden.
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AuthorAfter 43 years of ministry, Randy Cross lived his "fourth life" and shared about retirement, living boldly and intentionally in our world. To be sure, there was some North Dakota thrown in. Archives
March 2023
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