Dear Daughters,
It’s been a rather dry summer here in Michigan. Many farmers in the area do not own pivots or other irrigation equipment because rain is typically predictably present in the summer. If Western Michigan doesn’t get rain for about three weeks we consider it a minor drought. And so it has been – very little rain, very short corn and disappointing harvests.
A few nights ago we received a 2-inch rain for which many people rejoiced. Most of us don’t even water our lawns here, so everything was looking a bit brown and dry. But after the rain our world suddenly turned green and lush – which is what Michigan is used to. I listened to it fall gently outside the window as I lay in bed last night.
The rain brought to mind an article I read a few years ago by John Piper about an interesting verse in the book of Job:
He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.
He bestows rain on the earth; He sends water upon the countryside. Job 5:9-10
Rain? Really? I had never before considered that rain was a wonder and a miracle.
In the past I had experienced rain to be too much of a good thing. Because I grew up in the much drier West, rain – in my opinion – often hindered planned activities like weddings, open houses, and picnics.
While living in Kansas we learned to measure rain not by inches or tenths, but by hundredths. Most people dry farmed, so rain was the only moisture available for the crops and every hundredth was celebrated.
Anyway…have you ever considered rain to be a wonder and a miracle? If not, read on……
Think of how it was in the Middle East thousands of years ago. There were no irrigation pipes or pivots, plus the people were far from any lake or stream. If the crops were to grow and the family to be fed, water would have to come from the sky.
So, how does water come out of the clear blue sky? It would have to be carried from the Mediterranean Sea over several hundred miles, then be poured onto the field. So how heavy is rain? If one inch of rain falls over one square mile of farmland we are talking 206,300,160 gallons, which equates to 1,650,401,280 pounds of water (that’s over one billion pounds of water.)
Now how does more than 200 million gallons of water get up into the air to be transported? Evaporation – when water quits being water for a while and rises up into clouds so it can come down as rain.
So it goes up, now how does it get down? Condensation happens when the water starts becoming water again by gathering around little dust particles between .00001 and .0001 centimeters wide. That’s really small.
Also, if you remember, the Mediterranean Sea is salt water, which would ruin the crops if it came down as salt rain. So somehow the salt comes out of the evaporated water during that 300-mile journey where it gets dumped on the farm.
Now what would happen if a billion pounds of water just dumped onto the square mile farm? All the wheat would be crushed and ruined. So the rain comes down in tiny little droplets. The drops need to be big enough not to evaporate as they fall the mile or so from the clouds, but small enough to keep from crushing the wheat.
Wow.
Now I understood why Job wrote that rain is a wonder and a miracle.
If our amazing God has made such a seemingly ordinary happening as rain to be a remarkable miracle, what love and creativity has he visited upon human beings – those He has fearfully and wonderfully fashioned in His image? And if we as human beings are so complex and intricately created, how He must tenderly value relationships, marriage, and the keeping of vows between a man and a woman for life?
For several years I have been keeping a gratitude journal (thank you Ann Voskamp) but during the past few months I have neglected it. As I pondered the wonder of rain, I pulled the journal out again to keep on recording those everyday miracles that happen every minute of the day.
The howling wind outside the window
The dazzling starry starry night as I take my walk down the darkened lane
The stunning beauty of candy stripe beets
The joy of being in Western Michigan for the summer
Moss on the rooftop
Visitors for afternoon tea
Sweet, sweet sleep
A sliver of a moon
The apple orchards across the street
Asparagus fields gone to seed
Ivy climbing up the trees
Lunch with my beautiful daughters
The indescribable patience of Jesus
Lovely hydrangeas
Mushrooms at the Pentwater Farm Market
Freshly mown hay
I have learned that if I don’t give thanks for the little things in my life, I will criticize.
If I don’t focus on what God has given, I will ponder upon what He has not given.
If I don’t go out every day and take a walk, searching for the beauty and wonder around me, I will find something to complain about.
Jim Elliot (the missionary who was murdered in Ecuador in 1956 at age 28) wrote with such wisdom:
A wife, if she is very generous, may allow that her husband lives up to perhaps eighty percent of her expectations. There is always the other twenty percent that she would like to change, and she may chip away at it for the whole of their married life without reducing it by very much. She may, on the other hand, simply decide to enjoy the eighty percent, and both of them will be happy. Accept positively and actively, what is given. Let thanksgiving be the habit of your life.
I encourage you, my daughters, to keep on giving thanks for the little things, the small everyday gifts in your life. Lift your eyes to the beauty all around you, and consider the goodness of the Lord Jesus Christ and His immense compassion and artistry. Give thanks, even in the hard to give thanks times, trusting that He will work out all things for your benefit.
And always give thanks for the rain.
Love, Mom
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