If your feet are wet this morning, be grateful for cold toes and soggy socks.

Did you step in a puddle this morning and get your shoes and socks wet? Well, isn't that wonderful? Remember last summer? Docks dried up with boats sitting on top of dirt that hasn't been dry in years. Fields of burned corn tassels leaving farmers without grain or money. Yards turned brown and mowers left with full tanks of gas from no use. As I watched our two teenagers dash for the car this morning, I said a thank you to God. As I remembered the warm sunshine of Destin from last week and looked at our tanned skin....I said thank you God it is raining in Tennessee today. In all honesty, I haven't prayed for rain lately. In fact, it hasn't even been on my mind. Now, last summer I can promise you I prayed daily, hourly. Why? Because it was an instant, desperate need for our land and people. Isn't that how we are? Sorry. Isn't that how I am? I will pray for the immediate relief stuff and when it doesn't happen I move on to something else, but thank goodness God holds the future and doesn't forget. The ground soaking, sky dancing lighting, storms of hail, tree uprooting miracles, are proof that today I need not fret or worry. The God of the universe that can scorch the earth and flood it as well and no matter what I may face today, when I see a puddle of water, I need to just relax. If my hair gets wet...I will feel refreshed. If my shoes are soaked...then my steps are blessed. If my teenagers are sitting in class with wet feet..then I know my God is with them. Are you looking for proof today? Are you looking for truth today? Are you looking for hope today? Then go stand in a puddle and get your feet wet.

Butterflies follow water and color.

We finally made the front section of our landscaping look really nice this year. Of course,it would be the year of the drought and so we must water daily if we don't want to lose our flower investment. We have red, pink, yellow and purple flowers and they do look quite nice all together. A few weeks ago I noticed these bright yellow butterflies fluttering all around this front area of flowers. My husband said they were looking for water and I wondered if the colors attracted them. Each day the number seems to grow and now the larger Monarch butterflies have started to come. I thing about how scary the drought has become. Farmers are looking for more grain and hay to feed their livestock because they have had to use their winter storage this summer. A pond beside our home has gone dry. There are so many things to see and become discouraged over the conditions of our earth. But, as the precious water flows out of my hosepipe to soak the ground these beautiful creatures flutter up and color the ground. I know our earth is crying for relief. I know the fields are burning up as I type, but I am not going to lose faith in the power and majesty of my God who creates butterflies in the hottest, driest summer in 118 years. The rain will come. The earth will restore. The butterflies have given me hope.