July 19, 2023 “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.” I’ve said that more times than I can count. It’s an exaggeration, of course, but I think we all know the weather can change quickly. In recent memory, we’ve had weeks in which we went from wearing coats to wearing short sleeves and back to wearing coats in the span of a few days. I’ve been thinking about weather a lot lately. Last week, it was raining lightly as I commuted through one of the villages on my route to work. As I was exiting that village, I could see a wall of driving rain coming down a few hundred yards ahead of me. It was such a clearly defined wall, I was able to perfectly time the move to increase the speed of my windshield wipers with my arrival at that spot – the point where I drove through the wall of water. We’ve experienced moments at our home in which it was raining in the front yard but not in the back. I see the news coverage of communities not far from where I live dealing with floods and washed out roads. Then, as you move west in the diocese, farmers’ corn and grass both show patchy brown spots caused by a lack of rain. It seems simple, but thinking of all this crazy weather reminded me that what God gives to one may be different than what He gives to another, and He has purpose in giving all of it. It can be hard to wrap my head around that. I don’t understand why some towns have had a decent amount of rain, while other places have too much or too little. I don’t understand why one person may be cured of cancer or addiction or whatever other battle it may be, and other people die from their afflictions. I don’t understand why some people seem to be blessed with good fortune after good fortune while other people seem to have bad luck or no luck at all. There are lots of things I don’t understand. But I understand God is good. I understand He has a plan and purpose. I understand that, but I struggle with my lack of understanding. I don’t always like it, but I’m trying to wait and trust. |
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