I’ve head a lot of complaining around here about the winter just past and the spring we’re trying to find. “Too cold!” is the usual cry. And it has been cool, dark, damp, rainy and generally very un-springlike, at least for this side of the country.
I’ve begun to realize that whining about the weather is a very human characteristic – one which seems to affect all people, everywhere. Maybe it’s because we can’t do a darn thing about the weather that we feel so invested in it. So much of our lives are dependent upon the weather: is the sun going to shine on our garden party or will the rain fall on our little seedlings or the wind blow for our regatta…well, you get the picture.
For most of us, there is a conviction that Mother Nature really isn’t doing her job as well as she might. She seems to get it wrong more often than not! It’s frustrating. It’s depressing. It’s annoying.
It’s the weather.
Maybe we need to take lessons from the rest of our world – the birds, the animals, the plants. As far as I can see, they don’t worry about the weather. They just continue with their lives, rain or shine.
I watch the little finches at the feeder outside my window. It’s cold. There’s a nasty wind coming off the lake. I’ve turned up the thermostat. Yet, they flit back and forth, twittering and chirping to each other, as if the day were bright sunshine and warm breezes. The squirrels scamper around the yard, oblivious to the pouring rain. The flowers and bushes and trees blossom all around me (albeit a little later than usual) – not just quietly blossom, but an exuberant, riotous blossoming of colour.
This morning, as I walked my dog along the lake verge, I saw the Canada Geese which have staked out that portion of the shoreline, marching down to the water. With them, four little goslings – who had arrived amid the cold winds and frosty nights of the the past weeks.
And I thought of Jesus’ words: “consider the lilies of the field.” I doubt a lily ever worried about the weather.
Maybe we need to focus more on the beauty of this wonderful world and less on the numbers on the outside thermometer.
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