The Frustrations Of Unpredictable Weather

I have found the inconsistencies and unpredictabilities of the recent weather forecasts irritating.  Where snow is concerned, I want to know if I can get excited about it or not.

 

I'm not interested in "maybe" or "possibly" so far as the weather is concerned.  I don't want a percentage of the likelihood of snow or rain or sleet.  I want the actual facts.  I want to know what to expect.

 

Guessing is no use to me.

 

It's a bit like in one of Michael McIntyre's sketches where he says how whenever you ask someone for the time, if they don't know, they will still guess.  I think it's about three.

 

He says, I didn't ask you to guess the time.  I can do that myself.

 

Similarly, I don't need a weather forecast to guess the weather.  I can do that myself.

 

I appreciate that predicting the weather isn't that straightforward or predictable, so no matter how much I want to know for definite what the weather is doing, that won't happen.

 

Still, it would be useful wouldn't it? 

 

You'd know what shoes/coat to wear.  You'd know whether to bother straightening your hair or, more importantly, not to waste time straightening it if it is soon to face the rain.

 

It would make planning for life much easier.

 

But unfortunately, it is not possible.

 

I suppose the weather forecast is an act of faith: will we believe it or not? 

 

Similarly, our walk with God is an act of faith: I don't always know what's going to happen in my life.  I am not perfectly prepared for every eventuality.  But I don't need to be when I'm trusting in God.

 

Faith isn't so much about what you can see, but about what you choose to see and about who you trust to show you.

 

"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see."

 

[Hebrews 11:1 NLT]
 

I will never get the perfect weather forecast that tells me exactly what I want to know.  There will always be an element of faith and trust involved.  And, this side of heaven, I will never get to know for sure what God is planning on doing in my life - I will never have the perfect 'life forecast'. 

But whilst I don't know what might happen, I know the One who knows.  And that's enough for me.

 

 

 

 

 

Reduced Visibility

I find driving when it's snowing really quite relaxing. 

 

Not when there's snow or ice on the roads, but just when it happens to be snowing.  I find the falling flakes completely mesmerising as they drift to the ground.  I'm not sure why, but I find it quite calming and soothing.

 

Of course, there is the fact that you can't see very well and therefore have to drive at half the speed you usually would.

 

Every time I stopped at traffic lights, I enjoyed pausing to look up and watch the flakes falling. But as soon as we started moving again, I kept my eyes firmly fixed on the tail lights of the car ahead and let them guide me through the darkening streets. 

 

The Bible advises this in a spiritual sense too,

 

       "Look straight ahead,
       and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
       Mark out a straight path for your feet;
       stay on the safe path.

       Don’t get sidetracked;
       keep your feet from following evil."

 

       [Proverbs 4:25-27 NLT]

 

 

Rather than allowing ourselves to be distracted or mesmerised by things on the sidelines, we should keep our focus fixed on what lies before us.

 

And although there will always be distractions, although we won't get to see things clearly, although we won't get to understand and see things the way God does yet, we will.

 

"We don’t yet see things clearly.  We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.  But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!"

[1 Corinthians 13:12]

 

 

 

The Beauty Of Snow

It finally snowed!

 

And snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed.

 

I got up at 5 to check this morning and was delighted with the sight.

 

I absolutely love the snow.  I love the scrunching crunch of it under your feet as you walk.  I love that it slows the world down and gives us the chance to relax and reflect.  I love how quiet and hushed everything becomes, how everything is muted.  I love that it brings people together to build snowmen and have snowball fights. 

 

But most of all, I love how beautiful the world looks when it is covered in a thick layer of soft snow.

 

Wilhelmina in Ugly Betty says,

 

"Snow is a magical blanket, it hides what's ugly and makes everything beautiful."

 

Snow can make even the ugliest of sights look beautiful.  There is a huge, towering scrap yard a few roads away from my flat, which usually looks pretty monstrous.  But today, even that was transformed into something magical.

 

The Bible describes God's grace as being like snow:

 

 

         "This is God’s Message:
         'If your sins are blood-red,
         they’ll be snow-white.
         If they’re red like crimson,
         they’ll be like wool.'"

 

         [Isaiah 1:18 MSG]

But rather than just covering over the ugliness of life, and hiding it for a while, as snow does, God's grace transforms everything it touches.  So that when it melts away, what is left is more beautiful than before.

Let It Snow

This time, it really might snow.

 

I am beyond excited at the possibility.

 

I have been checking a variety of weather reports throughout the day - apparently it should reach us early tomorrow morning, around 5 o'clock.  I am seriously considering setting my alarm for 5, just so I can look out to see if it really has snowed this time.

 

All of this excitement and eager anticipation has made me think about how eagerly I anticipate the things that God is doing in my life or the lives of others, or how excited I get about it all.

 

If I'm honest, I'm probably more excited about the snow.

 

But the Bible urges us to be excited and expectant:

 

"This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life.  It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike 'What’s next, Papa?'  God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are.  We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance!"

 

[Romans 8:15-16 MSG, emphasis mine]

 

Maybe I'm more excited by the snow, because it's something clearly visible.  It's either snowed or it hasn't, there is no middle ground.  But when it comes to working out what God's doing in my life, I'm not always so sure.  It's not always so black and white.

 

But perhaps that's because I'm not really looking out for it.  Perhaps that's because I couldn't often describe my attitude as being 'adventurously expectant'.  I don't read my Bible as often as I've been checking weather reports today - checking for regular updates.  I dont' often lose sleep over what God might be doing next.  I don't often set my alarm early just to see if God wants to speak anything into my life.  In fact, I never set my alarm early to see if God wants to speak into my life.

 

But I wonder what might happen if I did.  I wonder what might happen if I was as excited and eager and expectant about God moving in my life as I am about the snow.

 

If I really asked God, "What's next, Papa?"  I wonder what might just happen.

 

 

False Start

As someone who is ever-hopeful for snow, the weather forecast for this weekend has left me feeling rather excited. 

 

However, whilst I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of the white stuff, I heard an article on the radio yesterday about the problem that this sudden cold weather will cause to lots of wildlife.  Apparently with the recent milder weather, the birds and the bees have been mistaking the season for the beginning of spring and have been starting their spring-time activities.  What's more, there are many flowers and blossoms blooming in fields and gardens, which will be killed off if it snows.

 

This cold weather will come as a bit of a shock.

 

Life can be a bit like that too.

 

Sometimes we feel sure that we have turned a corner, that spring is on the way.  Things in our lives seem to be finally working out, our lives seem on track.

 

And then the snow comes.  Winter returns.

 

A false start.

 

It is always difficult to pick ourselves back up again after a fall or to continue after a disappointment.  When we fail and fall, it is difficult to try, try, try again.  Instead, we feel like giving up.  Like curling up and hiding and not bothering anymore.

 

But the Bible says that when we fall, God will always pick us back up.  And with His strength, we can continue.

 

        "If the Lord delights in a man's way,

        he makes his steps firm;

        though he stumble, he will not fall,

        for the Lord upholds him with his hand."

 

        [Psalm 37:23-24 NIV]

 

 

We may fall and endure many Winters, but Spring will always come again.

 

 

 

 

 

Winter

I was just flicking through the channels this evening when I spotted that the first Narnia film is on.  It started a while ago, so I've missed the beginning, but I've seen it before so I can keep up.

I've joined the story just at the point where Christmas has finally arrived in Narnia, because of the hope that the Pevensey children have brought to the land.  Father Christmas presents Lucy, Peter and Susan with gifts and then declares, "Winter is almost over."

As we watch, the snow and ice, which have characterised life in Narnia for over a hundred years, begin to melt and disappear.  Trees bud and blossom and the world becomes green again.

It's a beautiful image as we watch things that have been dormant or dead slowly coming to life.

It reminds me of this beautiful passage in the Song of Solomon:

       "Look around you: Winter is over;
       the winter rains are over, gone!
       Spring flowers are in blossom all over.
       The whole world’s a choir—and singing!
       Spring warblers are filling the forest
       with sweet arpeggios.
       Lilacs are exuberantly purple and perfumed,
       and cherry trees fragrant with blossoms."

       [Song of Solomon 2:10-12 MSG]


I often feel that there are things in my life, or in my heart, that are frozen over

But in the same way that the ice in Narnia is melted by hope, the ice in my life and in my heart is melted by the hope of new life that comes from God's love and forgiveness.

Whatever the season.



 

Yet I Dare To Hope

Today is one of the most important days in the year: my birthday.

 

Every single year I have hoped for snow on my birthday and every single year I have been disappointed.  There is often snow in other places in the country, or snow in the weeks just after my birthday, but I have yet to enjoy snow on my actual birthday.

 

However, despite the fact that I have yet to enjoy snow on my birthday, despite the years of disappointment, every single year I still hope that it might just snow.  I eagerly watch the weather forecasts, I wake up during the night before my birthday just to check outside.  Even now, with a few hours left of my birthday, I think it might just snow.  There's still a chance.

 

Despite the disappointment, I still dare to hope.

 

And it's a tiny, pale, weak reflection of what the writer of Lamentations described in the Bible.  The book of Lamentations, as the name suggests, is a book of mourning at the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem.

 

And yet, in the very middle of the book, there is a tiny seed of hope.  A moment where, despite the dire circumstances, the writer remembers God's goodness.  And it gives him cause to hope.

 

      "The thought of my suffering and homelessness
      is bitter beyond words.

      I will never forget this awful time,
      as I grieve over my loss.
      Yet I still dare to hope
      when I remember this:

      The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
      His mercies never cease.
      Great is his faithfulness;
      his mercies begin afresh each morning.
      I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
      therefore, I will hope in him!”

      The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
      to those who search for him.
      So it is good to wait quietly
      for salvation from the Lord."

 

     [Lamentations 3:19-26 NLT, emphasis mine]

 

 

Yet I still dare to hope.

 

Despite difficult circumstances, despite repeated disappointments, despite broken dreams, still I dare to hope when I remember who it is that I trust. 

 

We can continue to hope, because we can put our hope and trust in a faithful, loving, merciful God.

 

And as for the snow, there's always next year.