UPON BEING IN THIS DROUGHT

I fell in love with the story, "Sarah, Plain and Tall" after reading it to my 2nd graders once in school.  In the book, a widowed Kansas farmer (Jacob) writes off to a newspaper back East to advertise for a wife to help him raise his two little children, Caleb and Anna.  The advertisement is answered by a woman living in Maine, Sarah Wheaton.  She agrees to come the more than 2,000 miles to meet them all and see if she can "make a difference".  So on that day in the early 1900's, she boards the train to leave and life was never the same again.


If you have never read the book and the two sequels that followed, I hate to tell the whole story.  As a teacher (ok, sorry but I had to say that), I encourage you to turn off the TV, stop texting, stay away from Facebook for a bit, and pick up a book and it might as well be THIS one.  But I will say that despite the odds against them, Sarah and Jacob fall in love and marry.  Thank goodness that the book's author (Patricia MacLachlan) didn't stop with just the one story.  In the one that followed next, the story became even more memorable and its story line is one that reminds me of times that we are starting to see right here in the middle of the U.S. and for that matter, seems like everywhere!


"Skylark", the second book, finds Kansas in the midst of very dry drought-like conditions.  Everywhere things are drying up and Jacob's farmland is no different than anyone else's.  The family and many others make daily treks to the only source of water available, a creek that is slowly but surely drying up.  When the creek can finally give water no more, Jacob has to make a hard decision.  And that has to be sending Sarah and the children back to Maine to live with her "old-maid" aunts until times get better.  A box or two of kleenix would definitely be a good thing to have around if you are an old softie like me when you read this part or watch the movie on TV.  


A few days before they have to leave, little 8-year old Caleb thinks of one "last-ditch" effort that could possibly bring the rain that would spare the family much heartache.  He gets an empty glass from the kitchen cupboard and puts it outside atop the fence post, thinking sure that somehow, some way, the rain will come to them.


Well, Sarah and the children leave for Maine and Jacob stays behind.  It was a lonely time and existence for them all.  Nothing improved and people began to move away.  Just when it appeared as though absolutely everything was lost, Jacob heard it.  The first clap of real thunder and then the thud, thud, thud of the heaven's opening up and the rain falling down.  Little Caleb's glass filled to the brim and life was restored to them all once again.


Now friends, Caleb's offering of an empty glass in exchange for rain was not one of those "magic, magic" moments.  It wasn't going to be like he could barter to the "gods of rain" for an inch or two of life saving moisture.  That empty glass represented a little boy's "faith" and hope that somehow or another, God would provide for them.  He knew, as most kids are very good at, that you should never give up hope.  That notion was good 100 years ago and it remains so today in 2012.


The graphic that covered the front page of the Hutchinson News a couple of days ago, painted a pretty grim picture.  The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture has declared 82 Kansas counties as "drought disasters".  66 of those counties are called "primary disasters" and my home county, Reno, is one of them.  And it's not just us folks, it's all over the place.  As bad as it seems here in South  Central Kansas, there are so many others suffering greater than we are.  And we all wonder, "when is the rain going to come?"


So this morning when I arose, I thought of Caleb and that story, one that has certainly a great impact upon my life (and my car's odometer registers an "extra" 4,000 miles because of it) and decided to make my "stand".  The photo below shows my plan for this day.  

I could have chosen a narrow-mouthed pint canning jar, but what the heck?  I believe that God will sooner or later send us enough that a wide-mouthed quart jar will be more in order.  There's plenty of other ways to symbolize it~leave your car windows down, spend $10 at an "all-purpose" car wash, do a rain dance...whatever!  But just don't quit believing and don't quit praying that the moisture that we so desperately need will come to us all.  And in the  meantime, perhaps there a good lesson in this for each of us to be learning.


Have a great day you guys~stay as cool as you can, keep hydrated for crying out loud, and take care of yourselves and one another.  And as my very favorite TV personality of all times, Red Green, so often says..."Keep your stick on the ice.  We're all in this together."