Watering the lawn in the rain

I remember a few summers ago going through a mini-rainy season. 

After about three days, I had had enough, I had to get out of the house.  I grabbed my umbrella and headed out the door to take a walk.    

As I was walking along, dodging puddles and raindrops, I walked by a neighbor’s house and saw a strange sight.  On the front lawn (which was lush and beautifully green by the way) the owner had set up portable sprinklers and they were going wide-open in the middle of a rainstorm.

I got a good laugh at that one.

But as I continued my walk, I couldn’t get that neighbor’s commitment out of my mind.  I had spoken to him many times on previous walks.  He was a committed gardener.  He took pride in his yard.  He was all in.  And at that particular time, he had planted his winter grass and wasn’t counting on a free watering. 

Free, chance, hope, none of these were in his equation.  He was willing to pay, to pay the price, whether it rained or not, to have a beautiful lawn.

There is lesson there for us.

The ONE THING for today: Many people are happy to have things if it comes with little effort and low cost; but the truly great ones are willing to pay the price day in and day out, rain or shine.