This is a reprint from 2012 because even with the rains in Texas this year Lake Abilene is still only 3.4% full. And also because I greatly admire (and in many ways envy) the faith of my sisters and brothers who steward the land God gave them.
The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord, especially if those eyes run cattle or grow cotton in Texas. We’ve had more than one cotton farmer and cattle rancher in the Northern Texas Northern Louisiana Mission Area Parish Lay Academy and I’ve always thought they have more to tell us about faith than we could possibly teach them. I’d like rain now and then so I don’t have to water my lawn but they pray for rain to sustain their livelihood and then frustrated week after dry week endure moisture laden clouds that pass over them with nary a drop. I wonder how they can hold onto to the notion of a benevolent God when their crops are shriveled or when they have to sell their breed stock to save the farm that can’t survive without water no matter what they do. But then we of the wired world weary if our 4G slows down to 2G or heaven forbid, doesn’t “G” at all. The closer you are to the land the more dependent you are on things you can’t control and the more we understand that there are things we depend on that we can’t control the more our eyes look to God. It might not make it rain and it certainly won’t make our 4G download faster but as my cotton farming friends have taught me it will uphold you when you fall and sustain you when you are bowed down
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