Drought, Prayers, and Miracles

 

 

This week the governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, proclaimed a “Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving,” because “by praying collaboratively and collectively and asking our higher powers for more snow and rain, Utah received record-breaking snowfall this winter season and ideal spring runoff circumstances.”

 

This may seem like a strange governmental act, in this secular age. 

To understand it, let’s look back. Two years ago, we were suffering from years of brutal drought, and Governor Cox made another proclamation, one for prayer and supplication. On June 3, 2021, he explained, “I’ve already asked all Utahns to conserve water by avoiding long showers, fixing leaky faucets, and planting water-wise landscapes. But I fear those efforts alone won’t be enough to protect us,” Governor Cox said. “We need more rain and we need it now. We need some divine intervention. That’s why I’m asking Utahns of all faiths to join me in a weekend of prayer.”

 

His proclamation specified: "By praying together and collectively asking God or whatever higher power you believe in for more rain, we may be able to escape the deadliest aspects of the continuing drought.

At the time, he was mocked. John Oliver on an HBO comedy show, “Last Week Tonight,” made fun of Cox and the entire state of Utah, laughingly stating what to him and most of the country was obvious, “You don’t pray your way out of a drought.”

But many of us believe prayer matters. 

CS Lewis, that most literate believer, wrote compelling of prayer—its necessity and its mystery.

He explained “prayer is not magic. Prayer is asking a higher being for help.” 

If it were magic, you would be able to say the same magic words and always get the same result. When Harry Potter waves his wand and says “Accio Broom,” the broom requested flies directly to him—every time. Prayer is not like that.

Indeed, in the year following Governor Cox’s request for prayer, our drought continued. We kept on praying, and, at the same time, we did all we could to conserve precious water in our desert landscape. We let our lawns turn brown. We took out the lawn altogether and spread rock in its place. We planted drought-tolerant species. We collected shower water in buckets and lugged it out to water the garden. Farmers tried novel methods for conserving water, including a strange sort of tower to grow alfalfa.

As the Great Salt Lake shrank and the mountain reservoirs began to look more like puddles, we did all we could to conserve water. And we also prayed.

Then, in the winter of 2022-23, it snowed. And snowed and snowed. Day after day. Snow on snow on snow. The Alta Ski Area, in the mountains above Salt Lake, received 903 inches of snow, 155 inches more than its previous record. Just to do the math for you, that is over 75 feet of snow. 

We kept praying, in gratitude after each snowstorm and in supplication for more. We shoveled our driveways. We bundled up to go anywhere. We laughed about the remarkable constancy of the snow.

There was great skiing, with the snow approaching the height of the ski lifts. There was powder snow you could ski through up to your waist. And we kept praying.

There were avalanches and blizzards and dangerous roads. In the mountain towns, snow was piled four feet deep on the roofs. Some roofs collapsed. And we kept praying for snow, and in gratitude for snow.

Sometimes we jokingly asked each other, “Which one of you is still praying for snow?”

But, really, we all were. Because we knew we needed it.

Then, spring arrived, and our prayers changed. When all that snow melted, where would the water go?

People talked about the spring of 1983, when the spring floods caused mud avalanches that literally buried a small mountain town, when the rivers couldn’t contain the melt and were routed down city streets.  

This spring we prayed for the weather to cooperate. If it warmed quickly, all that snow would come down the mountain at once, the rivers would top their banks and houses would be deluged. Now we prayed for a mild spring to control the speed of the melt. 

At the same time, we worked to be ready for floods. Neighbors labored together to fill thousands of sandbags and stacked them to direct possible flooding. City and county work crews cleared fallen branches and all debris from the rivers, so the water could run free. Citizens were encouraged to find the storm drains in their neighborhoods and clear them of all impediments. 

And we kept praying. 

As it turned out, the weather cooperated to limit the damage. This spring we had a day or two of warm weather and the snow melted. Then a week of cool weather, with little melting. Then some more warm, melting, days. Then cool weather to slow the melt. 

Even so, the melt was spectacular. The rivers were torrential, running at their highest levels, barely below their banks. A mountain road washed out and became a waterfall. Some homes along the Weber River were flooded. 

But compared to what could have happened, the melt came down in just about perfect order. I saw the head of Utah’s water agency interviewed on TV news, almost in tears for joy at this perfect scenario.

So now, miraculously, our lakes and reservoirs are almost all 100% full. Even the Great Salt Lake, the largest inland salt sea in the Western Hemisphere, which was so low we feared we would lose it altogether, has gained five incredibly significant feet. 

Our prayers were answered. Of course, it could have been a coincidence. It might have happened this way no matter what.

And, of course, we were not blessed with this answer because we are better than others. But we did ask. And I think it matters. 

So, this week we are praying our thanks to God for the miraculous winter and spring that has brought us the water we need so badly.

We are also enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. A long cold snowy winter really makes you appreciate the warm sun.

I am grateful to pull weeds in the sun, to play in the water with my grandchildren, and to lay in the warmth  of a hammock. 

And I am grateful for miracles, for answered prayers--for God.

 

 

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