Showers, showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead.

Old spiritual song

Jackie Pyle owned the filling station in the town I moved to. He didn't have a lot of school-learning, as the saying goes, but he had about as much practical wisdom as anybody you will ever come across. I used to have the diet coke habit, so I would venture into his station just about every day. He didn't always say a lot (though he could if you would stop long enough to listen), but the little he did say usually was worth listening to.

I remember one thing he said that changed my entire perspective on praying. We were talking about rain (the #1 topic in any farm and ranch town) and I said something about praying for rain. He said he had heard an old preacher talking on that topic once who wondered if instead of praying for rain, we should really be praying for crops. I have thought about that statement quite often since that day. I have noticed that some of the wettest years have yielded very little in the way of wheat and corn because the heavy rains coming at the wrong time could spoil the harvest. I've also observed that some of our best harvests came with below average rainfall, but the rains we did have just seemed to come at the perfect time for the crops.

Since that time, I have focused more on praying that we would get the rain we need for our crops and cattle. I have also prayed more and more that we will be able to handle the dry years and the wet, whether or not the blessings came in the time and amount that we had hoped for. I honestly don't know if those prayers have helped anyone else - I hope they have - but I know for a fact that this new way of looking at things has helped me.

We just got a snow this past Sunday that extended for over a hundred miles in our part of the world. It was one of the most timely snows we have had in a long while, and it will go a long way towards helping this year's crops, as well as helping the grass that our cattle need. I believe it is a perfect example of what Jackie Pyle was talking about, for while we haven't had an unusual amount of moisture these past few years, we may end up with a beautiful harvest.

But, whether we continue to have the timely moisture or not, we will praise the Lord, for He has always given us just what we need. Last year He gave us help to get through a dry year, this year it may be help to get through the harvest. Either way, we will surely have showers of blessing. And for that, we are grateful!