So it rained today. I’m not talking a warm, summer rain. Nor am I talking about a drizzle. I mean rain. Weather. The kind of rain that makes you want to stay in bed, under the covers with copious amounts of hot tea and cake and a stack of novels. The kind of rain that makes you want to go and re-read Genesis, just to remind yourself that God doesn’t plan to kill the world by flood ever again.

The great thing about rain is it’s refreshing to the fields. We live in an area that’s typically high desert and farmland. The soil here is extremely dry and super alkaline. The fact that so many folks are able to grow so well in our valley is truly amazing.

So I took two of my kids to the Nampa Farmer’s Market today. It was a little cool and yeah, they were calling for rain and wind – VERY unusual for this area in June, and we set up our booth. I have a ton of new inventory in right now so I was pretty pumped about the opportunity to share my books with people.

And then… the deluge. It was rough. I have sandbags to weigh down my tent and walls on two sides- they’ve been incredibly gracious about making sure I get a back wall against a building so I don’t have to have to worry about covering so many sides of my tent in the weather. But oh man, it got COLD. And wet. I was so thankful for the extra tarp and threw it on top of the inventory so it wasn’t getting soaked – cause water plus books? Not a fun tale to tell!

The kids were keeping their spirits high, but they kept asking: “Mom, why are we still here? What’s the point?’

The point? The point is that we’re to do all things as unto the Lord:

Colossians 3:23 says ” Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. “

So when things don’t go my way? I don’t sit and pout. I don’t quit just because I don’t like how the weather looks – ever hear the phrase “fair weather friend” – that’s exactly where that phrase comes from- someone who you can only count on when things are going well is someone you can’t really count on.

So yes- we show up in the rain. Or as the Post Office was reputed to once said:

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

We will be there, because we made a commitment and because showing up, being consistent is the very best way to foster a rapport with your customers- to build a relationship that’s not “fair-weather.”

So what did we do after that? We danced in the rain, we sang songs, we visited other vendors and helped people make sure they had things in place. We talked about how much we were going to miss the rain when the regularly scheduled weather returns this summer and we’ve got over 100* weather.

Most of all? We made memories and hopefully, the kids learned a lasting lesson on turning lemons into lemonade.