Water On The Countryside

The summer rain slips in. I can smell it.  How it likes to tease the farmers! It makes them worry about their fields. Ploughing still needs to be done, subsoiling, planting, there's still hay on the ground. The rain would always set in slowly in the valley where I grew up. It rolls in like mist, creeping from the mountains across the farms. I'm convinced that most of the Weather Network's ratings come from local farmers. 

A storm brewing in the Fraser Valley 

It's so ironic that townsfolk consider rainy days to be lazy days. That is far from the truth for  this farmer's daughter, who is now also a farmwife. They turn into busy days. Hurried, rushed, hard working days. It's a challenge to try to get your fields caught up before the rain arrives. But then, when it does arrive, Hallelujah! The farmers can rest for a moment. Then we carry on until summer showers come again. 

The sun shows up again

Rainy days in the valley bring newness. It's incredible to see just how high the corn seedlings shoot up after one good rain and a few days of sun. Summer rain always shows up at just the right time -- when it's most needed. It brings green back to the valley again. Such a wonderful, fresh source of renewal.

Sometimes, if the storm is just right, we get thunder and lightening. A very rare occurrence. Other times we're blessed when we get to see this: 

 

And God's great promise still remains. 

He provides rain for the earth; 
    he sends water on the countryside.

Job 5:10