A Rainy Day Finally Comes

It was a most welcomed sight.

I had been fast-walking in my neighborhood for about 45 minutes this morning and was getting ready to run for a bit when I got rained out.

I was a little mad that I had to cut the day’s exercise in half.

But that little twinge of bother was far surpassed by my happiness that prayers for rain had been answered.

And judging from our Live Vipir forecast, those prayers will be answered… and answered… and answered this week. Some of you could get a lot of rain from these remnants of Tropical Storm Fay, the same storm that dumped 30 inches of rain on parts of Florida last week and made landfall a record four times.

I was sorry to hear of the flooding damage in Blacksburg (Cherokee County, SC) from this afternoon’s heavy showers. It seems that whenever it rains, some people get nothing, some get way too much, and others get exactly what they need.

Rarely does rain seem to come in just the right quantity, at just the right time.

Before today’s rain began, the NC mountains and Upstate SC both were nearly 12 inches below normal for the year. I gave up long ago watering my yard. My water district is on voluntary restrictions, and I didn’t feel right using such a precious commodity to make my grass green. When I mowed my yard last week, there was little but leaves and pine needles (from drought-stressed trees) to cut.

Growing up on a farm that produced tobacco, corn and other field crops, plus hay, I know what it’s like when everything depends on rain. I remember some very dry summers. When the rain doesn’t come at just the right time, crops don’t grow to their full size, which means when you sell them, you make less money. Irrigation helps to a point, but even streams and irrigation ponds eventually run low. Crops prefer that good from-the-sky water.

And families who get their water from wells sweat out these dry spells too. My mom and dad are careful to use no more water than absolutely necessary. The well they dug for our family home 53 years ago has never run dry, to my knowledge, and you pray it never well.

The droughts of recent years have made me appreciate rainfall more than ever. It is liquid gold from above.

I thank God for this beautiful, refreshing, restorative, life-giving rainy day!