Lord, Please Shut Off the Tap!
I just came back from the nursery. Our guys are loading a truck this morning in the soaking cold rain. They keep coming to work everyday in spite of horrendous working conditions. Bless them!
After a month of rain I start to feel sorry for myself. Our spring digging has been a nightmare with equipment broken or stuck, staff soaked to the bone and….to make matters worse, retail customers staying away in droves because it is too wet to plant in their yards as well.
There is better weather in site next week if the weatherman is right. But….for this week, it looks like nearly 2 more inches of rain today and 5 out of the next 6 days still calling for rain.
This is hurting our business this spring really bad and as many know, last year was survival for us, that’s all!
Then when I get feeling real sorry for …”poor me” I stop for a moment and think. We have not had tornados like the Deep South has experienced, we have not had a flood like Manitoba and the folks in the Mississippi Delta, We have not had a Tsunami like Japan, or an earthquake like Christchurch NZ.
It’s all a matter of perspective!
Last weekend, Nancy and I went to Sydney for my annual barbershop quartet frolic and competition. We stopped on the way there and back at Mother Webb’s restaurant a little east of Antigonish. Their lovely young ladies greeted us at the door and held it open for us, welcoming us. And the food was sooooo gooooood!
So on way home visit to Mother Webbs it was Mother’s Day and they gave Nancy a gift. A little coffee mug and here is what was written on it! I want to share this with you in full because it kind of puts everything in perspective!
“ If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep….you are richer than 75% of the world.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace…You are among the top 6% of the world’s wealthy.
If you woke this morning with more health than illness….You are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
If you never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation…You are ahead of 500,000,000 people in the world.
If you can attend a church meeting without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death…You are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
If your parents are still alive and still married you are very rare , even in North America.
If you can hold your head up with a smile in your face and are truly thankful….You are blessed, because the majority can but most do not.
If you can hold someone’s hand, hug them or even touch their shoulder…You are blessed because you can offer a healing touch.
If you can read this message, then you have just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking about you and further more, you are more blessed than more than 2 billion people in the world that cannot read at all.
Have a good day and pass this on to remind everyone else how blessed you are.”
I have all these things and therefore , am one of the richest men in the world. Thank you for caring about someone else and keep smiling.
‘There is always a pony at the bottom of every pile of Horse sh__!
Your Humble Servant,
Paul H Grimm
PS: Please say a prayer for my Uncle Sam Milne who suffered a major heart attack last week, and for the paramedics that saved his life on the way to Halifax! He had quadruple bypass surgery and to my knowledge is expected to have full recovery.
PPS: And Lord…You can still shut off the Taps!
PPPS: And….go to Mother Webbs….best restaurant service in a long time!
Posted by Karin Cope on May 17, 2011 at 4:59 pm
We’re so glad to have the rain while we’re planting some of those BIG trees, Paul, that your gang was loading. Best weather for them by far! You know what they say on the Eastern Shore–this weather is just great for the skin; no need for any expensive products!