Farm life brings with it many challenges, both physical and mental. One of those challenges: Rain. Trust me, I realize as a farmer, we are supposed to always be thankful for rain – except for when we aren’t.

Rain gives us so many amazing things: lush grass for our livestock, plentiful plants that produce food for our consumption, fresh water for the ponds and creeks, replenishment our groundwater sources, and beautiful flowers for us to look at. So yes, I’m super thankful for rain, but I’m not always grateful for its timing.

Our local farmers are having a tough weather year. We had an extremely dry summer. Livestock farmers were low on grass to graze, and that also meant they didn’t have any grass to cut for hay. Many were selling cattle because they didn’t think they would have enough grass and hay to get through the fall and winter seasons. Luckily, here at the Flying Pig, we had enough rain at the right time to keep our grass growing, and to help us with hay season. Those rains we were extremely grateful for.

Row crop farmers have had a different struggle. The dry summer meant quite a bit of watering for crops, but nothing detrimental. Our harvest season usually begins about mid-August and really gets to rolling in September, but with Tropical Storm Gordon hitting the first week of the September, farmers were in a bind. Farmers that had fields ready to harvest were running combines through all hours of the night until dew set in and halted them until the next day. Then Gordon hit. And in the month and a half since, it has stayed wet. In those cases, it’s truly hard to be thankful for the rain.

A few weekends ago, I had the entire farm to myself. Let me clarify that this never happens. Like ever. I had my To Do List armed and ready for a weekend full of productivity. Then I looked at the weather. Rain. All weekend long. I was frustrated. I mean, didn’t Mother Nature realize I had goals? Alas, I marked several indoor projects off my To Do List, and recognized that I didn’t have time to do everything on my list anyway. The rain simply encouraged me to work on my indoor projects that I tend to procrastinate, instead of tackle my (usually more fun) outdoor tasks. So in the end, I was thankful for the rain.

So many times, in myself and in others, I see frustration with God’s timing. I’ve been reminded, multiple times, of the popular verse, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” Ecclesiastes 3:1. However, we live in an instant gratification world these days. We want answers now. We want what we want now. We want action now.  Sometimes, we don’t get what we want, so we aren’t thankful. Sometimes we get it months (or years) later, and by then, we aren’t thankful. Sometimes we get exactly what we asked for, just to find out it wasn’t what we really wanted, so we aren’t thankful. I’m not here to debate why or how this generation ended up this way. (Oh, I could debate this issue, this just isn’t the time or the place).

Regardless of what we want, be thankful. Regardless of the timing, be thankful.

Be thankful for the rain.