Three days of rain and what a difference

from w
During the past week we have had three days of fairly solid rain and already the grass is tinged with green. I checked our lemon, orange, and tiny mandarin trees and the leaves have opened out. They had been almost closed up, yellowing and brown. What a difference the rain has made. The birds are noisy again. However some of our trees still have masses of brown leaves so time will tell if they survive.

On Sunday I had to lead the prayers of the people (as the guy on roster was moving house and stressed a bit) and I talked first about rain and drought. My view isn't that God gives rain but doesn't give drought. I think it's all part of the seasons and cycles and even in drought we can learn a bit about patience and compassion anyway. People were cheerful and when they sang 'Morning has broken' with the line 'Sweet the rain's new fall' they really meant it!

We are still on Level 4 water restrictions and a water man said the rain won't make a lot of difference in the water catchment areas yet.