Life and weather

As you can tell from my recent weeks of posting I have been very short on devotional thoughts, spiritual insights and inspiration. Truthfully, it comes as rain often does...it may be a very dry time in a life, but a cloud will pass over and unload its bounty on the dry ground reviving life and inspiring hope. Life is often like the weather (not at all like a box of chocolates.) There are times of storm, wonderful times of calm healing rains, dry difficult times and there are days when it appears that everyone around you is blessed with a cloud full of rain, but your sky is hauntingly empty and your draught continues. As the ground cracks under your feet it makes you more keenly aware of the bounty being harvested in the life next door. The challenge for us is to keep our eyes on the Lord and trust him whether we are in a flood or a draught. Inspiration, for me, doesn't always come from the blessings of rain alone. Often inspiration comes from the empty sky above when it appears God is not only silent, but seems to be absent as well. And yet, I know he's there. I know he loves me. I know that he is working in my life. I know because I know him. He has cared for me my entire life and proven himself over and over again. Like the weather, the circumstances of our lives changes. We will all have difficult days to deal with. Most of us will also have days of bounty. We get in trouble when we think the days of bounty should be our norm. Normal for a Christian is an intimate relationship with God regardless of the weather. When the relationship is missing then our circumstances become our focus. If you ever begin to depend on circumstances for your joy and happiness you are in for a difficult life. It's my relationship with God that will carry me through every weather condition. It's my walk with him that will bring joy and peace even when the ground cracks under my feet, even if I'm up to my knees in the flood. I've tried to describe this in a hundred different ways as I've written about the Christian life. The focus of it all is a relationship with God. The goal of it all is a relationship with God. The desire of God's heart is a relationship with him, and yet we so easily focus on the weather...the circumstances around us. Here's a wonderful example of this in the life of another man...

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Mat. 14:25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
28 "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
29 "Come," he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
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Like all of us Peter got his eyes on the weather, his circumstances, and took his eyes off of the Lord. Notice verse 30, "But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"" Now really, can anyone see the wind? Didn't he already know that what he was doing was impossible? Why was he worried about the wind? But it was just enough to take his eyes off of the Lord and then his circumstances got the best of him. And they do the same for us. When you begin to focus on your circumstances you will begin to sink, and hopefully, you will cry out, "Lord, help me!" as Peter did. What fascinated me in this passage is that Jesus was not far away, he didn't have to run to Peter to catch him. Before Peter even got wet it says, "Jesus reached out his hand and caught him." He was that close and yet Peter lost his focus. We do the same thing, but when the weather of your life catches your attention remember that God is right there with you to help you through your difficult days. The appeal is simple, "Lord, help me!" and he will reach out and catch you.