And the rains came …

A prayer of thanksgiving for the gift

Every religion must have a prayer for rain: O my people! Ask forgiveness of your Lord and then repent to Him, He will send you abundant rain . . . . —The Koran Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month . . . — Jewish Prayer Book

ARKANSAS’ prayers were answered both abundantly and mercifully last weekend as the whole state went from parched to plenty. And without destructive floods. To quote a meteorologist with the National Weather Service: “We were so dry, the first couple of inches of rain was absorbed into the soil. It prevented any flash flooding in Arkansas. If we had 2 or 3 inches fall an hour, we could have seen more problems.”

It was a kind, good, gentle, perfect rain. The Good Lord seems to have known just what He was doing. As the poet said of the quality of mercy, it . . . is not strain’d, It droppeth as the gentle rain

from heaven Upon the place beneath.

It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives

and him that takes. Just last Thursday, the state’s Forestry Commission had said the danger of wildfires in the southern half of the state was extreme. But by Monday, the danger had passed. The rainfall and increased humidity had curtailed the threat. Last week, humidity levels were in the low teens. Earlier this week, the state humidity level was up to 90 percent in some places.

“There aren’t opportunities now for high-intensity fires,” a spokesman for the commission noted. Even though it had reported 33 wildfires in the state Tuesday and Wednesday of last week.

“It’s helped us tremendously,” said William Sprinkle, forester for the commission’s District 4 office, which oversees firefighting efforts in Columbia, Lafayette, Miller, Nevada, Ouachita and Union counties. “We received an exceptional rain,” he said. “It soaked everything. It’s wet now. When it’s wet, things won’t burn. In my opinion, it was perfect.”

In short, thank you, Lord. For as the Psalmist declares, “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”