It’s raining this morning.
It’s a nice, gentle, occasionally heavy (but not for long) shower. And it’s something we’ve prayed for and needed here for a long time.
I was commenting on it to some email friends earlier this morning, and said that when I took Evelyn’s service dog, Kianna, for her walk, I could almost hear the grass and trees gulping the long-awaited refreshment. I didn’t mind getting soaked because I knew that the rain was an answer to prayer, and that the foliage (and animals, for that matter) had been waiting a long time for this drink.
I recalled that ditty we used to sing as kids: “It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring.” Another terse rhyme went, “Rain, rain, go away, come again another day.” Peter, Paul, and Mary put them together in a song appropriately titled, “It’s Raining”:
It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring.
Bumped his head and he went to bed and he couldn’t get up in the morning.
Rain, rain, go away-yy-yy …
Come again some other … day-yy-yy.
Usually a rainy day is seen as something undesirable. It squelches plans to go to the beach. Kids can’t play in the yard. The porch furniture stays wet so you can’t sit outside when the sun comes out. And your dog gets his/her fur soaked, requiring a frisky toweling-off.
However, when the only moisture you’ve had for weeks is morning dew, it’s not healthy. Allergies become aggravated. Yard work is a nuisance at best because of the dust that gets kicked up. Grass burns up and turns brown, making the effort to mow almost ludicrous.
It’s one of those situations in which we don’t appreciate what we have until we don’t have it. We complain about the rain, but when it “goes away to come again another day,” we realize the detrimental impact of not having our aquifers and streams and ponds re-supplied regularly.
So, I’m grateful for this morning’s rain. The dust has settled. The pollen count is lower. The birds seem to be reveling in it. And I’m sure that, given a few more days, the grass will be lush, green, and ready for mowing once again.
Another mixed blessing.