How to handle the small Drought….

The crunch of dry grass under my feet as I walk to the garden warns me my bucket is too small, the day too hot. It hasn’t rained here in a week or more. Some leaves are drooping, too heavy with large spaghetti and butternut squash to lift their leaves in even hope of a drink like the corn. The corn with its leaves raised high, no more waving in the breeze like banners of faithfulness just staunch high raised begging. Pointing to where their help comes from.

So many needing the rain to come. They show it in different ways….some leaves droop low in exhausted umbrellas while others reaching high in funnel shaped hope. I find the zucchini with all its fruit picked sits quietly, neither drooping or stretching but waiting not expending any energy or making new. All wanting the same thing…not to thirst.

Yet in another corner….yet in many corners of the garden production is in full swing. This small drought has only strengthened some of my plants. The peppers are producing in bushels. My watermelons seem to be unaware. They vine through all the garden as if every bed is theirs as they tuck in sweet melons next to cool beet leaves.

The drought speaks and feeds in many ways.
For some it is all sadness and lack of hope.
Another it is a reason to spur them upwards in a strain for the heavens.
Then some sit as if nothing is happening, at the same time producing very little.
But for some it is just what they needed. They expand and grow in ways which seem to double anything they were capable of before.
***Here is a list of the ten eleven things I am thankful for in our drought….
1.)Cool pool waters to break the afternoon heat.
2.)Scads of my favorite (And only hybrid) pepper in my garden: the false alarm jalepeno.
3.)Gardening lessons….so much to learn walking in the garden.
4.)Strong children in little bucket brigades.
5.)Finally some beautiful art…my drought has passed!
6.)Dare I say a baby who sleeps through the night?
7.)Forgiveness…and the awareness of who to forgive.
8.)feet and feet of hose.
9.)Fields to be donated.
10.) Flowers which love the lack of rain and who are blooming,leading the eye to look up and not down.
11.)Salted Caramel Icecream…and normally I don’t even eat ice cream!

What kind of role do you play when Drought comes to your life? Is it all about how we are built or is it many times our perspective of what “Drought” is supposed to do that colors how we handle it in our lives? Can we give ourselves permission to embrace it or is it something we must just bear?~T