Well played, God. Well played.

I’ve been praying for rain for weeks. Correction-for months. We’ve been in the worst drought Oklahoma has seen since the dust bowl. My crispy garden limps along with wilted leaves during the day, only popping to life at night or in the cool of morning.

This Saturday, I planned a garage sale without regards to the weather. I’ve taken for granted the blue sky, the shining sun, the brown pokey grass and my sweaty pits. So, I set up for the sale, advertised, priced, organized and didn’t look back.

 

That’s when God answered my prayers. At the exact moment that I didn’t want them answered.

He didn’t consider my garage sale when he planned his weather. He didn’t consider that I had been praying for rain for weeks and didn’t answer me. And after all, I just didn’t want it to rain for this one Saturday. He didn’t consider me whining as the first drops fell and he didn’t stop the rain when I begged him to do so.

He just let loose and let the rain fall. All over me and my garage sale, all over my huge stack of Dwell magazines, my perfectly organized display of clothing, my pink gigantic cardboard flowers, my carefully priced tools and my fancy picnic basket.

God didn’t do what I wanted. I closed up shop after complaining quite a bit to Biceps and to my friends that stopped by. I grumbled as I pulled out the whole wheat flour and buttermilk to make pancakes for all of us. I whined as we sat down to our impromptu breakfast.

We bowed our heads as Biceps prayed, thanking God for the blessing of the rain, for the break in the garage sale action which provided the opportunity to spend time with some of our closest friends and for the financial blessing we had already experienced that morning.

Ouch. God did what he wanted to do in his timing, not in my timing.

Well played, God. Well played.

It’s a Rainy Day-Garden Prep

Today was the day for planting my garden. But, mother nature has been in a bad mood-crying all over the place. It has rained for the last three days-with tiny spurts of dryness in between monsoons.

So instead of donning mud boots yesterday, the best friend and I had a day trip planned for Arkansas. But, I’ll tell you more about that soon.

In the meantime, I know that my two DIY Rain Barrels are filling to capacity.

And my empty DIY Composter is getting a good cleansing.

But, I am ready to attack my garden with shovels, seeds and stakes. So mother nature-you’d better dry those tears up soon. No one likes a cry baby.

The Rainy Day Bonuses

Most people drink in the ‘blue sky’ days, but I prefer the rainy days. When I see the tiniest of raindrops, I put the tea on to boil and grab my favorite book.
I believe this love has something to do with the first moldable years spent in Germany as a child, underneath the covering of dark clouds.

Last night, as the thunder rolled in, I burrowed deeper into my fluffy comforter and worked for hours; breaking occasionally to admire the lightening as it ignited in the sky.

I think there was a bit of showing off by the good Lord this morning. The world had been touched with a fresh coat of color.

Every leaf was bathed in the purest emerald hue. When the wind would pass through its branches, leftover sparkly drops fell onto the tips of the grass below, decorating it with the help of the sunlight.

The chit chatting of prancy, newly cleaned birds couldn’t be subsided; even when the 14 dogs that surround us loudly announced the passing of a runner.

And my weird cat, although he has a sanitized ceramic dish filled with fresh water every morning, prefers to drink from this rock after a rain.
I guess the rain has a little something for everyone. Thanks, God.