Today forecast: rain, rain, rain!

     People react differently than I sometimes think they will.  Went through a drive through and the young woman almost immediately told me in very excited tones that she loves the rain!  I don't hate the rain like I don't hate snow.  One of  my children doesn't like sunshine.  Go figure!  He loves it when it's overcast and doesn't see winter as gloomy.  There are a lot of people who try to beat the weather by travelling south for the winter and north for the summer.  The weatherman has predicted 4 more days of rain, rain, rain.  They aren't right most of the time but their predictions tend to slant our outlook on our day.  We dress accordingly to the forecast, make travel plans (and cancel them) according to the forecast.  While precision and accuracy are mandated in most lines of work, the weather people seem to get a buy.  They have a tough job predicting the weather.  Some days they just need to look out the window before they predict.
     Here in the Pacific Northwest there are no expectations of sunshine most days of fall, winter and spring.  In the Midwest there are no expectations of anything but cold and snow for most days with lots of sunshine.  The other areas of the nation have similar expectations from their weather.  Some places the wind blows a lot (think Minot, North Dakota here) while other areas have blistering heat (maybe Tucson, Arizona).  Just as the weather is diverse and changing daily and sometimes hourly, so it is within people and their lives intertwined with those around them.  For instance, there are days I want to be around people and other days when I just want to be alone.  Sometimes the forecast is for sunshine and sometimes rain in my life.  The winds of time and memories bring either one or both and there is little I can do about it.  Just like the weather I'm unpredictable in my nature.  Most people fit into this category.  We have off days and on days and days when we should have never let the cozy warmth of our beds!
     Christians are no different than other people when living their daily lives and dealing with how they feel on any given day.  Yes, we have Jesus to help us in times of need.  That does give us one up over those who don't know him.  We, however, are still subject to the rain on the earth and the rain in our souls.  Pretending everything is just peachy is not a good witness.  People need to see the real person who is a Christian in order to see the Gospel being lived out of our lives.  If all people see is the happy face then the expectation or forecast is subject to disbelief.  Likewise, people stay away from people who are always presented defeated attitudes.  The rain that fills the aquifer is necessary just as the sunshine is necessary to give plants growth.  The rain in our souls also has a positive and negative agenda.  If we can look at the rain as beneficial then the time of rain becomes a learning time.  We can see the rain as the valleys we must pass through in order to get to the mountaintop where we can bask in the sunshine. 
     In the end, we affect the forecast in our lives and the lives of those around us.  Consider this:  your actions and words can create a calm or a calm before the storm.  Simply put, when we utilize what God has given us for his purpose, we can bear up under the rain, rain, rain.  There is still sunshine above the clouds and one day it will poke through.  Your adversity is temporary and not permanent.  Look forward to getting through it rather than complaining about this moment and the next.  It's all about our choice.  Will we see past the temporary in order to focus on the eternal?