Hopeful Expectations...

You watered the land with plenty of rain, O God.

You refreshed it when your land was exhausted. ~Psalm 68:9

Purple blossoms on the jacaranda trees

Aside from brief sprinkles that have polka dotted the ground the last few weeks, there has been no rain in Mmopane for six months. What the lack of moisture didn’t killed off, the hard frosts of June took care of. By the end of winter the landscape was sandy brown with sparse patches of drab olive green thrown in from the thorn trees. And yet, even with no rain, the breathtaking splendour of spring is that many flowers and trees start to bloom anyway. Even before our sprinkles arrived, and certainly before the rains come, the plants begin to ready themselves for summer. They don’t wait until the rains come to be certain of life sustaining moisture.

During the driest time of year
the plants muster up their strength and display their finery
with the hopeful expectation of rain to come.

Every morning when I open our front doors I am inspired: to muster up strength from within my dryness, to live in expectation that times of refreshing will come again.

Some springtime flowers

A few notes. I wrote this post a few days ago and yesterday we received our first good rain. It was amazing, I couldn't stop smiling. Also, thanks to Rosanna for the picture of the jacarandas downtown.