Be Careful What You Pray For

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Each Sunday, for the three years I have lived in Texas, our church has prayed for rain.  This winter we started getting wonderfully New England style days, “misty, moisty” days where the clouds and drizzle would last all day.  I was delighted.  This spring even more rain came, and the wildflowers were glorious, every latent seed bursting into bloom. Even the fruit trees in our yard which heretofore only produced enough fruit to keep the mockingbirds happy, have so many apples and plums on them the branches seem in danger of breaking. 

When my grandchildren arrived from Maine, the forecast was for rain each of the 9 days they were here.  Unheard of, and thankfully it was an exaggeration.   Each day, some rain would fall but we were able to carry on with trips to the zoo, the creek where I work, a rodeo, etc. 

Two days after their departure, I drove off to Illinois in torrents of rain with constant reminders to “get to shelter” coming over my IPhone. Yet, as you know, I thankfully, arrived alive.   I had outrun the storm and found myself in a delightfully green and spring-like Illinois.  Back at home; Texas continued its torrential downpours.  My poor husband was out on the roof,  in the midst of a thunderstorm, trying to locate the roof leaks that were dripping in the house. I guess I can feel a tad guilty I wasn’t there to help him.

 I also feel bad that while I take the dogs to the parks where the grass waves in the wind and the leaves rustle in 4- story high, deciduous trees, my counterparts in the Hill country are watching their trees uproot and float down raging rivers.  The creek where I had caught crayfish with my grandchildren in early May was now making the news floating SUV’s down it: inconceivable and heartbreaking.   

Heartbreaking to even try to get your mind around being on vacation and having your vacation house, with you and your children in it, pulled from its foundation and shooting you down the river, perhaps, never to be seen again.

As a Christian, I've always been struck by the verse where Jesus warns us “You do not know the day or the hour” (Matthew 25:13).  He is talking about being ready for his return but I always have thought of it in terms of, I have no idea about the day and the hour when I will meet him face to face. I think of it with every disaster, that those people had no idea that when that day began, it would be their last.

That realization has led me to a simple morning prayer:

“Father God, I have no idea what’s coming down the pike today, but you know every detail.  Please, give me the grace to get through whatever comes my way.” It leads to a “THIS DAY” style of living; something Jesus seems to be a big advocate for. “ Don’t worry about tomorrow” he says, “for today has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34) and “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? And since you can not do this little thing, why do you worry about the rest?” (Luke 12:25-26)

THIS DAY then, I pray for the people whose lives, along with the landscape, have been forever altered.  THIS DAY, the lakes are going from the forecast of being dried up completely by 2016, to, filled to the brim in 2015. THIS DAY the mosquitoes think they have died and gone to heaven; never has the world become such a breeding ground.  Another reason I am glad THIS DAY to be in ILL and not Texas.  THIS DAY a huge amount of Texans are helping their neighbors and praying for the ones who are in the midst of tragedy.  THIS DAY, may we all pray for them.

 And for you, I pray that where you live, rivers stay in their courses, the sun shines, and you house stays rooted.  Ironically, I think I was joking about that at the end of the last blog, that that sentiment would make a good Hallmark card.  And now, it has come to pass.  Not so funny when it really happens.  I promise, next blog will actually BE about nature, not that this wasn’t but lets go for something less tragic like, “What are catkins anyways?  How does that saying go?  “God willing and the creeks don’t rise.”