Friday, August 5, 2011

There Is A Season


Jim and I just celebrated 15 years of marriage.

The week before we got married

a hail storm wiped out all grass and leaves on a large stretch of prairie.


I chose to fight the season

and plant flowers.

A week later, grasshoppers ate every ounce of green.



It was 1996.

That winter we had the worst blizzards in decades.




Then the snow stopped.

The rain stopped.

My kids learned to sled on bare ground:  dead grass and cactus.




We began to dread the sight of clouds.

Clouds no longer meant rain.




Clouds meant lightning.

Lightning meant fire.



In 2006, our 10 year anniversary year,

my parents saw a century of pine trees burn up in one night


and then evacuated their home waiting until it was safe to come home.
 
Some in their community had no homes to return to.

  

A week later, my husband was called to a fire.

Clouds were brewing up

and my sister-in-law and I loaded up our 4 kids and sat on a hill top

to watch lighting and spot smoke.


All my life I had been taught to

get off hilltops and highspots in lightning storms.

Drought turns that on idea on its head.


Hair standing on end

radio antenna buzzing . . .

I don't recall how many strikes we saw,

how many spots of smoke rising.



The next spring it started to rain.


{Click above for last year's hay season.}



I have never seen the prairie look like this.

The wildflowers and the grass look like it must have

when the pioneers came in their covered wagons

in 5-10 feet tall grass.



I didn't really believe it.

I didn't believe that Harvey Dunn's painting




were based on a possible truth of the prairie

until now.




Seasons.








Drought was our season for 10 years.













and grasses tower over my kids' heads.

 



In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, it says,





To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven . . .




He has made everything beautiful in its time.





Also He has put eternity in their hearts,
except that no one can find out the work
that God does from beginning to end.





I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice,
and to do good in their lives,
and also that
every man
should eat and drink and enjoy
the good of all his labor --
it is the gift of God.



Copyright 2011 Jodene (Jodi) Shaw.


7 comments:

  1. I appreciate this so much today. Happy Friday, my friend:)

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  2. You are soooooooooooo amazing love you so much thanks for the pics i needed a pick me up feeling low but happy at the same time!!!!!!!!heather finishing up her days in Honduras today.love you!!!!!!!jamie knapp from kslt went with them too mary brixey

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  3. So true about different seasons in life... I'm glad you're in a good one. :o) Your photos are beautiful! Thanks for sharing...

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  4. Thanks Jodi really good writing and from the heart. Enjoy you writing and pictures!!!! Keep up the good work.

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  5. Beautiful Jodi! How beautiful everything is now in this season. Such gratitude that the drought season has passed! Your photos are gorgeous. :)

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  6. A lovely, lovely photo story from the heart. It must be so wonderful to see the prairies covered in flowers and tall grass.

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  7. Beautiful, Jodene! I had no idea your drought had lasted that long. Love your pictures and the gratitude in your words. Happy anniversary!

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Welcome ~ share your beautiful thoughts.