I Saw the Cows Floating
The other day I talked to a friend of mine in Texas and he asked me if we were getting a lot of rain. “Are we,” I exclaimed. “Just this morning I saw one of the cows floating by the back gate and thought I was going to have to float hay out to them on an inner-tube.” We both laughed and he knew as well as I did that my cows were not floating. Now before you get too carried away, it hasn’t rained enough to make that happen in the hills where I live.
After I got off the phone I thought about what I’d told him. It was funny when it came out, but it showed me how ungrateful I am for what God gives us. In about three or four months we will all be griping about how dry it is and how we wish it would rain.
It seems like it has rained every day for the past two months. It makes it difficult to work outside or drive around the farm because you either get wet or get stuck… and sometimes both. But the rain is so necessary to the enrichment of the water tables in the area. That water that is reserved down deep will really be appreciated when the dry season comes.
Most likely we get to feeling that enough of a good thing is enough. But, God is the one in control and it is an undisputed fact that He knows a lot more about what we need than we do. He knows the future and He knows what July and August will hold for all of us, and we don’t have a clue.
In life, we often question the working of God. Though we might not realize we’re questioning Him when we complain about the rain, in reality we are.
God is constantly supplying our lives with situations, many of which we may never fully understand. He knows the future and He knows our needs before we ever need them. He knows when the grounds of our lives are getting too dry and He deals with that in a way that only He can do. He knows when we are becoming too self-reliant and sometimes He provides a storm in our life to help us refocus on the real issues at hand.
God knows our future before we even have a future. He knows the hurt in our hearts from different things that bring us pain. He understands the need for excessive showers from time to time to help us replenish and prepare for those times when life gets a little dry.
It seems that in the last few years reports of floods have bombarded the news. People have lost their homes and when the flood waters receded many had lost large portions of their land. As I write this, the waters of the Red River that passes right through our area are lapping over their banks. People are frightened and are at a loss of what to do if the river rises more and overflows its banks.
When you think about it though, it is those floods that create the awesome farmland in the river bottoms. The devastation to some is a blessing to others. The flood waters wash their rich nutrients down stream and deposit them in usable areas. Consequently much of our food supplies are grown in areas that were enriched by disaster.
When God brings blessings in our lives, we my never realize what they are or the value of them, but they are blessings just the same.
One thing we need to understand about blessings is that they do not always appear positive. It is easy to call a great sum of money a blessing from God. There is no difficulty in securing a new home, a home of our dreams and calling it a blessing from God. It is no challenge to fill my life with all the things I want and give God glory for the blessing.
It is, however, another story all together when the blessings seem negative. When flood waters ravage our home or our community, it is difficult to call that a blessing. When a tornado rips through a community destroying everything in its path, it is difficult to see the blessing. When we face premature death in a family or disease that threatens those we love, it is difficult to see the blessing.
This I know. If the cows ever float, somehow, someway, God will bring a blessing in my life because of it. The blessing may be to teach me a lesson that will prepare me for something more difficult in the days to come. It may be to prepare me to help someone else who’s life is devastated by something he or she cannot control. Or, it may simply be that God will bless me by letting me know that He is bigger than me and well able to control the world in which I live. Whatever the reason may be, we will continue to remember the words James wrote, “Count it all joy when you fall into manifold temptations, knowing that the proving of your faith works patience.”
The next time you stand in the rain, maybe you should say, “Thanks God. I see you are taking care of me.” (Now if I can just practice this I will be much better off).