Just be thankful for what you have

I emptied the rain gauge yesterday evening:  It showed 4 3/4 inches of rain received since last Friday morning, which put it pretty close to being full.  We’re getting light rain at present, with a rather balmy temperature of 67 with an expected high of 76.

I have to laugh at human nature:  We’ve been in a genuine drought all summer; gardens failed, crops produced half the yield they usually do.  The price of hay has gone up drastically.  We’ve whined, we’ve prayed... OK, I haven’t prayed about the weather, because I don’t pray for weather changes.  I feel the weather is going to do what it’s going to do, and that’s that.  But I’ve made my share of comments.  Cliff and I have laughed at the weather-guessers all summer:  They point out rain that is definitely headed our way and we fake-laugh, looking at one another and saying, “That’s a good one!  They think it’s going to rain!  Hahahahahaha.”

You can’t change the weather, but you can laugh at meteorologists.  It’s possible to have fun with anything, even as you watch your yard turn brown and the pastures withering.  

So we’ve all had our say about the dry summer for the past few months, but finally we’re getting a lot of rain.  It only took a couple of days to see folks complaining about the rain.  I find humor in this, too, and it reminds me of the Israelites in the dessert after they left Egypt.  The minute they got across the Red Sea safely, with no turning back, they suddenly forgot their previous enslavement and forced labor, and wished they were back in Egypt, where they had plenty to eat.  God, being very patient (probably for Moses’ sake, because Moses was one of his favorites), supplied manna for them to eat.  One of my prized nephews once said in a sermon that the word manna means “what is it”.   They cooked and baked with the stuff and rejoiced in the fact their bellies were full.  All they had to do was go out and pick it up.

But, typical thankless humans that they were, they got tired of eating manna morning, noon, and night.  You can only do so much using the same ingredient all the time, right?  They wanted some meat!  God wasn’t terrible happy about their whining, but He was used to it from those ingrates He’d created, so He said, “I’m gonna give you so much meat it’ll be coming out your noses; you’ll be sick of meat before I’m done with you.”

Hey, it’s been so long since I read this particular story I had to look it up.  The story about manna is in Exodus, but the part about meat coming out their noses is in Numbers.  

Anyhow, my point is that people in general have never been totally happy with what they’re given.  It’s something we have to work at.  

This, children, is your sermon for the day.  My advice to you?  Rain or shine, don’t worry.  Be happy.  

I believe I’ve just found the best way to blog with an iPad:  There’s an app for that, and I’m using it.  I had to pay for it, but it works much better than using the browser on iPad.  There’s another blogging app for the same price ($4.99) that I’m tempted to try for comparison, but this will work for most people.  

Yours truly, Donna