I have lived my entire life around a man made lake that is now over one hundred years old.  In a landlocked city, I have only just now come to realize my yearning to see and be near water.  We have lived near creeks as long as I can remember and I have always had an integral connection with them.  The lake is a tributary of the Trinity River and has a dam that is 40 feet high.  When I was a little girl riding around with my father he would always slow down so we could look at the spillway.  Not pausing to view it would be like failing to make a stop sign.  I remember rolling down my window and peeking out to see if the steps were bone dry or rolling with water.  Despite the lake’s origins, it has become a haven for migratory birds and a respite for two and four leggeds alike.  Now my little girl rides around to work with me and I slow the car down and holler, “LOOK AT THE SPILLWAY!”  I let her window down so she can smell the water or hear it rushing along as it makes its way down; a symbiotic melding of man and nature.  This month is officially the wettest ever on record in the history of Dallas.  Manhole covers are bursting all over and rising up like miniature fountains.  It has been fascinating to watch.  I took a picture of the spillway almost a week ago as we stopped along the bridge to watch the pod of pelicans hanging out and looking for fish.  Several days later I took the bottom shot and it was like a miniature Niagara Falls.  A giant river rolled in waves, the bridge swayed with the force of the water running under it, and foam sprayed rising at least twelve feet in the air.  One of my favorite songs about rain is from the Eurythmics’ — “Here Comes the Rain Again”.  A lighter song I love is Luke Bryan’s “Rain Is a Good Thing”.  Pulitzer Prize winner John Updike said that “Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.”  So here’s to the pouring down of God’s blessings in each of our lives.