Last week, out dry and dusty West Texas town was hit with an ice storm. We had freezing rain and below freezing temps for a couple of days. It blanketed our city for a few days. Those who dared to drive sputtered along at snail-like speeds. The weather made the simple task of walking on a sidewalk a very dangerous endeavor.
Not for the first time, the weather made me think of God. We call it ‘Mother Nature’, which is our attempt to personify the systems God has set into place. We realize there is something of a personality to it and something of the Divine.
Christian culture talks a lot about ‘atmosphere changers’. The atmosphere changing is a good metaphor for this. Weather has a way of saying, “Oh yeah, those are your plans. I don’t think so.” When a five-minute drive takes you almost an hour or when you’re stopped at a light and your truck slides to the curb, or when you plan to walk upright down a sidewalk. We scrambled to make the best of our days, make the most of them. But weather, perhaps more than anything else, can swoop in, cover a community, and put a halt to our best intentions.
We have a love-hate relationship with weather. We love the excuse to not do as much but we hate not having as much to do. We love the change of snow covering our parks and rain rolling down our windows. But we hate scraping ice off our cars and getting splashed by the speed demon next to us. I kind of like the idea that I could decide to plant myself in one place for the rest of my life, just nail myself to the ground. And not every day would look the same.
The weather reminds me of God because it is always there. Weather is ever-present. We get used to the different manifestations and can sometimes forget that weather is even happening. Actually, most of the time we forget weather is happening. It is a reality that we have gotten used to. We notice weather like we notice God, when things change. An anomaly. Something out of season and unexpected. Something damaging.
I understand weather only slightly better than I understand God, which is to say , not much at all. But I am very thankful for both. There is a verse in Ecclesiastes that says, “When times are good, be happy. But when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other.” Job also says to his wife, “Shall we accept the good from God and not the bad?” This is complicated and makes me feel like I ate my ice cream too fast. But it gives me permission to just be thankful. After all, if the weather stopped all together, we’d be really screwed. I’d rather have weather that I don’t understand than none at all.
I love it when God stops me in my tracks, even if it frustrates me and ruins my day. Although it is humbling, I’d rather trust a God too big to wrap my head around than one I can fully understand.
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