Don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines.

"Don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines." Thus spoke Satchel Paige, the legendary pitcher of the Negro Leagues, whose wisdom extended beyond the baseball diamond into the realm of life’s deepest truths. In these words, he teaches us about faith, constancy, and the integrity of the human spirit. For too often men lift their voices to heaven only in times of storm, forgetting to offer thanks in the days of calm. Paige, with the clarity of a sage, warns us: do not be a fair-weather soul, crying out only when you are drowning, but silent when you are carried by peace.

The ancients understood this lesson well. The Greeks told of sailors who vowed offerings to Poseidon when the waves raged, yet forgot their promises when the sea was calm. The prophets of Israel spoke of those who sought God in calamity but abandoned Him in abundance. To pray in the sunshine is to live with gratitude, to recognize that blessings demand acknowledgment as much as burdens demand relief. To pray only in the rain is to treat the divine as a mere rescuer, not as the source of life itself.

Consider the story of George Washington at Valley Forge. In the bitter cold, with soldiers starving and morale at its lowest, Washington was seen kneeling in the snow, praying for deliverance. But it was not only in that season of despair that he prayed. He prayed in victory as well, giving thanks for the turning tides of battle, for the strength of his men, for the survival of a cause greater than himself. Washington knew that prayer in rain and in sunshine alike was the mark of sincerity. It was this constancy that made his leadership both humble and unshakable.

Satchel Paige’s words also speak to our own daily lives. How often do we run to faith, to friends, to family only when we are desperate, but neglect them when life is kind? How often do we ask for help in the darkness, but forget gratitude in the light? The lesson here is balance: that the same heart that pleads must also give thanks; the same lips that cry for mercy must also sing for joy.

And yet, Paige’s wisdom is not only about religion, but about integrity of habit. To “pray” is not only to speak to heaven—it is to live with mindfulness, with gratitude, with devotion to what sustains you. If you practice discipline only when you are in crisis, you will fail when the skies are clear. If you study only when the exam approaches, or exercise only when sickness comes, you are like the man who prays only when it rains. True strength is found in constancy: in sowing seeds of gratitude and discipline each day, whether the storm rages or the sun blesses.

The teaching is this: do not let your devotion, your gratitude, or your discipline be seasonal. Let them be as constant as the rising sun. Give thanks each morning for breath, for strength, for the chance to labor. Pray—or meditate, or reflect—when the table is full as well as when it is empty. Practice your virtues in times of ease, so that when hardship arrives, you are already fortified. The man who trains only in war is weak; the man who trains in peace is ready for all things.

Practically, this means establishing rituals of gratitude in your own life. Each day, name aloud what you are thankful for. Build habits of discipline—whether prayer, reflection, or acts of kindness—into your routine, so that when storms come, they find you already rooted. And above all, remember Paige’s wisdom: do not call upon life’s blessings only in the storm. Call upon them also in the sun. For the soul that honors both rain and shine will walk with steadiness, unshaken by fortune, unwavering in faith.

So carry these words to your children, your companions, and to your own heart: “Don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.” Teach them that gratitude and discipline must not wait for hardship, but must be constant companions of the soul. And when the storms of life break upon them, they will find they are not crying to a stranger in the sky, but to a friend they have always walked with, in both rain and sun.