It’s been raining a lot lately, to put it mildly. Some areas have been flooded, and people are trying to cope with major damage. I’ve been fortunate to have only a relatively minor water issue in my basement—which we’ll hopefully get fixed sometime soon.

But another effect of all this rain is some seriously green grass. The other day I found myself just staring at my yard, mesmerized. I don’t think I’ve ever seen grass quite this bright—certainly not in front of my house. It looks like photos of Ireland. I guess I can pretend I’m on the Emerald Isle for a while, since I haven’t made it across the pond yet.

The grass certainly is pretty when it’s this happy, but here’s what healthy grass does: It grows. Fast. Something I probably should have considered when I hired a company to start treating my lawn last year. I just wanted to get rid of the weeds. It never occurred to me that the grass would actually grow faster, requiring me to mow more often (or look at really long grass). Oops! Be careful what you wish for, right?

Personally, I think mowing every three days seems a bit excessive, but what can you do? If you don’t keep up, then the process becomes even harder. So when I was out there mowing again already today, I started to grumble a little. And then I caught a whiff of the lilacs. There you go: perspective and mood changed. After all, the rain doesn’t just help the grass grow; it feeds all the flowers too. It’s pretty difficult to complain about something that produces such beauty. Plus, pushing the mower around (especially with a heavy bag of damp clippings) is good exercise. So I proceeded to enjoy the temporary sunshine, mopping the sweat running down my face while appreciating the wonder of nature around me.

Perhaps these snapshots from the Walsh yard the last few days will help brighten your perspective too.