By Glenn Dromgoole

Living in West Texas, I’m kind of surprised that we don’t sing this hymn more often – “There Shall Be Showers of Blessing.”

“Mercy drops round us are falling,” the hymn says, “but for the showers we plead.” 

Certainly we do.

In the part of Texas where I grew up, we sang that hymn, but I’m not sure we really meant it. After all, we got about 60 inches of rain a year. It showered – no, poured — all the time. We didn’t really need to ask for – much less plead for – showers.

When I moved to West Texas, it took me a while to get accustomed to watering the lawn. Showers, I learned, really were an incredible blessing.

Well, the second verse of the hymn really makes the case:

There shall be showers of blessing,
Precious reviving again;
Over the hills and the valleys,
Sound of abundance of rain.

Of course, the hymn isn’t actually about rain, but rather about the blessings that we too often take for granted. Not just rain. 

But, in West Texas, when we sing about showers, we mean rain.

Glenn Dromgoole and his wife Carol operate Texas Star Trading Company in downtown Abilene, rain or shine.