Rainy Day

Today makes the third straight Saturday in a row that it has rained. Our lawn was beginning to look like a wild meadow. Fortunately, the weather broke long enough during the week that Larry was finally able to get it mowed. Still, there were many things I had planned to get done today that simply will not happen AGAIN on account of the rain.

So it goes… This rain reminds me of something my dad used to say whenever anyone complained about the weather:

“As a rule, a man’s a fool.
When he’s hot, he wants it cool.
When he’s cool, he wants it hot.
Always wanting what its not.”

So I am trying to simply be grateful for the moisture that will nourish the crops and make flowers and trees bloom more abundantly. I’m trying to see the blessing of this rain rather than the inconvenience.

My daffodils and hyacinths are all blooming. Tulips are putting on fat heads. Many of the ornamental trees around town (dogwoods, crabapple, flowering cherry, hawthorne, magnolia, etc) are either in bloom or putting on buds.

Spring is an amazing time of renewal – as the natural world reclothes itself after the long winter barrenness and spiritually as those of us who are Christian ponder the sacred days of Easter and Pascha.

When I lived in the Midwest I always said that autumn was my favorite time of year because I loved the spectacular colors of the trees changing, the bringing in of harvest, and some of the celebrations of that time of year. But here we don’t have the deep woods that I so loved in Ohio and Michigan, so I’ve come to appreciate spring more than the fall. Either way – I’m glad I live in a place where the seasons do change. After ten years in Phoenix where the concrete and palm trees stay pretty monotonous, having four distinct season each year feels like a real blessing.

How about you? What time of year do you like the best?