Darn you El Nino, whoever or whatever you are! All you’ve done this summer is make it rain.
Can you hear my little pity party? It was real…for a little while, at least…until God woke me up. In all fairness, I’m adding a little extra drama here for effect (Did it work? Did you roll your eyes?). Even so, I was pretty bummed out when we got up to our hotel, after driving four hours in the rain, to learn that the outlook was the same. Rain and more rain. Ugh.
I needed some perspective, and I needed it fast! The Holy Spirit gave me this to ponder:
For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
-Matthew 5:45
In my whiny state, I apparently forgot about the simple fact that rain is a blessing. Rain is a good thing. As I alluded to earlier, I like to play golf. I can’t stand courses that are arid, lacking green grass, full of dusty fairways and hardened greens. If ever I play on such a course, I will complain (I can be such a brat!). One of my favorite things about golf is the green grass and park-like atmosphere. Well, it turns out that rain makes that possible (or sprinkler systems which draw from water supplies that exist because of rain).
We are implacable creatures, aren’t we? We want our cake and to eat it too. For example, I want it to rain when I’m not playing golf so that when I do play a round, the course is in great condition. I guess God would have to bend to my will in order to “keep me happy”, huh? I don’t even like where this is going, so I’m just going to stop right there!
Who am I to complain? Is this godliness?
But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
-1 Timothy 6:6-8
It doesn’t say pleasant golf conditions, does it? :o
The only reason I had a problem with rain during my vacation is because it didn’t suit my purposes.
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.
-Proverbs 19:21
Instead of complaining about a wet round of golf (yes, I still managed to squeeze in a round), I should’ve just accepted God’s will. I got rained on. So what?!! There are people in this world suffering in a drought who would love to be rained on this very day. I can be so selfish sometimes, it’s true. Thankfully, deliverance is but a change of perspective away and God blessed me with proper perspective long before the round ended.
Have you had any “rainy days” in your life lately? Quit the pity party – you’re only hurting yourself. Venture out beyond the boundaries of your own self-absorption and you just might find that since your circumstances are from God, they must be good. I suppose we could say the same thing about any season in life, huh?
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
-Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
It rained on my vacation, and it was a very good thing, indeed! Thanks be to God for a little thing called “perspective”!
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins
