Dorothea MacKellar's 'My Country' is a timeless piece of poetry about Australia. She sums up in a few paragraphs everything about our country and what makes it so special.
But lately, especially in the state of NSW, one line has really stood out:
"I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains, of ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains”.
NSW has recently experienced its wettest summer on record – well I'd hardly call it a ‘summer’ more an endless procession of wet days that would seemingly never end. But a few years ago from around 2003 till late 2009 Australia experienced one of its worst droughts in a hundred years.
Water restrictions were in full effect and work on the desalination plant (which looks pointless now but I still think is necessary) had begun.
Though I live in Western Sydney, at school we would pray for rain to come to the farmers. But it appears now as if we have the exact opposite—too much rain.
Dorothea Mackellar was correct, "Droughts and flooding rains" - no in between. As Australians, when we read this poem we can't help but be pleased on the inside, in our souls. I for one wouldn't trade 40-degree days at the Boxing Day Test for anything.
Sometimes we can get lost or worry about outside factors out of our control (such as too much rain, or not enough) but God has the master plan, he is still in control, he still answers prayer, he still works miracles, he still meets our needs.
Do not be afraid! That phrase is mention 365 times in the Bible – enough for one day of the year. But this year is a leap year with 366 so here is the extra re-assurance: Do not be afraid!
Christopher Archibald lives in Sydney and is an under-graduate student.