Dandelion Wine

A friend of mine recommended the book "Dandelion Wine" by Ray Bradbury.  I'm finding it an absolutely beautiful book.

Today, as we hung out inside because it's SNOWING - yes, snowing - I found a passage that brought me some hope.  

Who was the fool who made January first New Year's Day?  No, they should set a man to watch the grasses across a million Illinois, Ohio, and Iowa lawns, and on that morning when it was long enough for cutting, instead of rachets and horns and yelling, there should be a great swelling symphony of lawn mowers reaping fresh grass upon the prairie lands.  Instead of serpentine, people should throw grass spray at each other on the one day each year that really represents the Beginning.

In our Precepts class we've moved into Hosea.  As I long for the beautiful weather of summer, I find I'm looking at the nature verses a little harder.  A few years ago in a conversation with my brother Scott, I remember him saying something like "there's just something about the land.  I don't exactly know what, why, or how, but there's something about the way God loves the land."  He's totally right.  

Therefore the land mourns, 

And everyone who lives in it languishes

Along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky,

And also the fish of the sea disappear.

Hosea 4:3

Oh the land.  Sometimes it's the lack of something (in this case sunshine!) that makes me really appreciate it.  I love the relationship that we have with the land - and I'm sad that the relationship has resulted in its downfall.  I can't wait to see how wonderful it will be when it's back to it's original form.  Until then, I'm certainly convicted to be a better steward, and to be truly thankful for the sun when it shines, and the precipitation (let's just call it that) that helps the grass grow to mowing length.