It was a lovely Sunday. We had our first snow, and not the kind with 60mph winds and the rebirth of the Abominable Snow Monster, but a light blanket of soft, white snow. The autumn leaves were still on the line of silver maples across the way, so that it seemed winter had arrived and yet had not yet gained entrance.
Nightingale commented laughingly - "Hopefully all the snow will melt tomorrow, and the ground can soak up all that niiiiice moisture." She was smiling, but I also know she was serious. The snow is an aesthetic thing to me, but for her, and most of the people out here, it is life. To not have enough moisture means that the ground will not necessarily yield a good crop, or a crop at all, which means thousands of dollars lost, because they have nothing to sell, or they have to buy feed for their animals. Never before have I understood so clearly the petition during the Great Litany - "For seasonal weather, for abundance of the fruits of the earth, and for peaceful times, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy!"
I really do not know much about the farming life, and I have made little effort to know more, but I do know this - It is both a hard life, and a rich life, and it is one that takes much faith, because working really hard does not necessarily mean gain. Ultimately you must depend on the earth, and on God to send rain and snow, for your animals to be kept from sickness and death, so that every time moisture comes, you find yourself saying - Glory be to God for all things! But you must also, somehow, when it does not rain, still say - Glory be to God for all things!
I find I spend a lot of time looking up at the sky here, much more than I have ever done in my life, both because out here it seems limitless, but also because it is the promise of what is to come - will it bring hail, snow, rain, heat? And every time I ask this question I think of God, that everything we have comes from Him, and it reminds me to be faithful.
Nightingale commented laughingly - "Hopefully all the snow will melt tomorrow, and the ground can soak up all that niiiiice moisture." She was smiling, but I also know she was serious. The snow is an aesthetic thing to me, but for her, and most of the people out here, it is life. To not have enough moisture means that the ground will not necessarily yield a good crop, or a crop at all, which means thousands of dollars lost, because they have nothing to sell, or they have to buy feed for their animals. Never before have I understood so clearly the petition during the Great Litany - "For seasonal weather, for abundance of the fruits of the earth, and for peaceful times, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy!"
I really do not know much about the farming life, and I have made little effort to know more, but I do know this - It is both a hard life, and a rich life, and it is one that takes much faith, because working really hard does not necessarily mean gain. Ultimately you must depend on the earth, and on God to send rain and snow, for your animals to be kept from sickness and death, so that every time moisture comes, you find yourself saying - Glory be to God for all things! But you must also, somehow, when it does not rain, still say - Glory be to God for all things!
I find I spend a lot of time looking up at the sky here, much more than I have ever done in my life, both because out here it seems limitless, but also because it is the promise of what is to come - will it bring hail, snow, rain, heat? And every time I ask this question I think of God, that everything we have comes from Him, and it reminds me to be faithful.
1 comment:
until I read your most recent post, I thought Nightengale was a bird.
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