Please Send Rain!

To say that the ground is dry is an understatement.  The burn ban means there were no fireworks here to celebrate the Fourth.  The school marquee is requesting that residents do a rain dance.  Our pastor spent a significant portion of his Pastoral Prayer requesting rain from above.  I even washed my car (which I never do) in hopes that doing so would bring on the rain.

 Despite daily watering, my potted plants are about to give out, and the vegetable garden is dangerously dry.  The "pastured" chickens are basically being moved from one dry, crusty patch of earth to another each day.  And the goats are taking dust baths as their once beautiful pasture is turning brown.
Our water bill, which came today, was more than double our average amount.  In short, the rain is needed. 

Last summer, then-7-year-old Girl 1 and I sang Nichole Nordeman's "Gratitude" as a special in church.  I've been singing the first verse in my head all week:

Send some rain
Would You send some rain?
'Cause the earth is dry
And needs to drink again.
And the sun is high,
And we are sinking in the shade.

Would You send a cloud,
Thunder long and loud?
Let the sky grow black and send some mercy down.
Surely You can see that we are thirsty and afraid.

This much of the song is easy to sing -- a petition for God to mercifully meet our needs.  It's the part that follows that is more difficult to take. . .

Or, maybe not.
Not today.
Maybe You'll provide in other ways.
And, if that's the case.
We'll give thanks to You with gratitude
For lessons learned in how to thirst for You.
How to bless the very sun that warms our face,
If you never send us rain.

Much more difficult, huh?  Many of us are okay with God telling us to "wait" for the rain in our lives (be it literal or figurative).  But, can we thank Him even if His answer is just plain "no"?  if He has plans for us that just don't include the merciful rain that we think we need?

So, I continue to offer my whispered pleas for rain (among other things) as I go about my quiet, morning chores outside, knowing that He hears each word.  But, even as aI pray, I do so acknowledging that no matter how He may choose to answer, He is due all praise.