"Fishing" for Abundance

A drought of thankfulness can leave a soul as dry as the prairie grasses in our pastures. Like the curled, brown leaves on the drought-stricken milo stalks, ungratefulness leaves us brittle and used up, not much good for anything other than complaining.

When I was in high school, I was in a play. I honestly don't remember the name of it. What I do remember is a line I delivered:

"Oh woe is me! Oh lack-a-day!"

I certainly wasn't competing with Meryl Streep for an Academy Award, though I did fool my Grandpa Neelly who didn't know me behind the stage makeup and the gray hair.

Wouldn't it be great if another reason he didn't recognize me was because the "woe-is-me" attitude was so foreign to my nature?

We all face droughts. It may be a literal drought like we've experienced on the farm these past two summers. It may be a drought caused by worry, loss, death, heartache, a family situation, illness or another curveball from just living life. It's easy to get caught up in the lack instead of the abundance.

“The real voyage of discovery consists of not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

Norman Vincent Peale

After we rode the 4-wheeler across the dry pastures, my ever-optimistic husband said, "Let's go fishing!" It's good to live with a glass-half-full kind of guy. It was a cooler day, one where the thermometer wasn't racing its way upwards past the 100-degree mark.

As I sat by the river with my feet up and the fishing pole dangled in the water, a few hymns drifted through my mind, like the clouds that floated across the sky giving a few moments of relief.

When I opened my church bulletin the next morning, the very first song was one that provided my afternoon mental soundtrack, All Things Bright and Beautiful.

All things bright and beautiful

All creatures great and small

All things wise and wonderful

The Lord God made them all.

 Each little flower that opens

Each little bird that sings

God made their glowing colors

And made their tiny wings

 The purple-headed mountains,

The river running by,

The sunset and the morning 

That brightens up the sky.

 The cold wind in the winter,

The pleasant summer sun,

The ripe fruits in the garden

God made them every one.

 God gave us eyes to see them,

And lips that we might tell.

How great is God Almighty

Who has made all things well.

 

Wishing you a day when you see the abundance and not the drought!

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I'm linked today to Iowa farm wife and blogger Jennifer's God-Bumps and God-Incidences at Getting Down with Jesus.