We’ve always been needin’ a good rain
My Ol’ Daddy always said, “Seems like we’ve pert near always been a needin’ a rain!”
And usually, he went on to explain why it had been dry for so long and just what it would take for us to get a rain. No, we didn’t get to watch a weatherman on TV, though the farm show on the radio that was sponsored by Pillsbury Mills would often have someone read a weather report from somewhere, probably Fort Worth since that’s where the radio station was located.
Of course, these blurbs would be in between songs by the Pillsbury Dough Boys or Pappy Lee O’Daniel. But most of those old timers didn’t pay much attention to radio weather reports because they had already been told what to expect from the sages in the Amen Corner down at the church or maybe an early morning visit to the “coffee bunch” down at Jake & Dorothy’s.
There, they could get “caught up on news and weather” from old man Hobson who repeated word for word whatever his wife, Aunt Sadie, told him to say. And it was pretty much understood that however she got her information, she never missed it by very much! Of course, it was a proven fact that if you wanted it to rain, you had better “pay the Preacher.” Now, it was also a proven fact, that if he didn’t use that pay right, it wasn’t going to rain!
My Ol’ Granddad, Papa Hop, would tell you that, “When the Good Lord thought you needed a rain, He would bring rain. And sometimes He would bring it abundantly!” Now I’m here to tell you that there is some truth in those first few lines and most of us have memories of those old timers and the ways they could predict the weather. And just maybe thicker hair on the animals, wooly worms at the wrong time of the year, rheumatiz in their knees, or a throbbing bunion was a precursor to changing weather. For some reason, my big toe has been hurting some and I did hear a Rain Crow just before sundown. But I covered all my bases when I asked the Good Lord to bring us a good rain if He felt we were ready for it. You see, God knows our needs, but we must show our dependency on Him by asking Him to meet our needs. And then, I laid my rain hat next to my boots to be ready for that rain!
Have The Faith
“How long we been needin’ a rain?”
Ol’ Pard asked with a sigh.
The dust was blowin’ down the lane,
Stock tanks was mostly dry.
Pastures are bare,‘cept fer some weeds,
parched fields won’t make much hay.
Be hard to meet them critters needs,
shore be hard fer them to stay.
Haulin’ water takes a lotta time
an’ still don’t quench their thirst.
Well is low an’ the creek has slime!
Shore can’t tell which is worst.
.
Hard to figger jest what to do,
‘cuz things look purty bleak.
But to this land we will be true.
Forecast calls fer rain next week.
This’un sez it will be a dry spring.
That’un sez it might be wet.
Hard to figger what it will bring,
got no choice, take what you get.
Preacher held a prayer meetin’
askin’ fer help from Him.
Church house had a-plenty seatin’,
but the crowd was purty slim.
Preacher sez, “When any feller
shows up to pray fer rain,
he otta bring his umbreller,
an’ faith big as a mustard grain.”
Now, the Bible sez be sincere
when yore askin’ of Him.
An’ the Lord will handle yore fear
an’ make yore troubles grow dim.
The few that we wuz, said our prayer
fer rain an’ help with the stock.
Figgered what we asked fer wuz fair,
‘cuz we were part of His flock.
Then clouds turned dark, lightenin’ flashed
an’rain began to fall.
We thanked the Lord, as thunder crashed,
tho faith had been purty small.
It came right out of the northwest,
an’ we shore needed it.
We figgered that we had been blest,
an’ hoped it would not quit.
The rains had come, parched earth was healed,
the battle had been won!
In days to come, we’d sow the fields,
new crops warmed by the sun.
Spring rains have filled up all the tanks
an’ things don’t look so grim.
Green grass is thick, an’ cows are slick,
an’ we say thanks to Him!
© Ol’ Jim Cathey
God bless each of you and God Bless America!
And thank You Lord, for the rain!