It's June. Summer is here, school is out and we Southern Californians are ready to hit the beach! Eagerly we load up our cars with beach towels, umbrellas, sunscreen, boogie boards...oh, and the kids. We fight for parking spots, trudge through the sand locating small plots on which to plop down our stuff. And then we all sit, huddled in our beach towels, shivering. We should know better. We can all recite the weather forecast mantra for June: Morning fog and low clouds, giving way to afternoon sunshine. June gloom it's called. But it's summer! Something inside of us instinctively senses that it should be hot. Now. Even though I personally enjoy the coolness of the morning and evening low clouds, something about it just doesn't seem right.
Bundled up in my beach towel, away from the normally hectic pace of life, I have time to think and to hear God's still, small voice. I confess that I have the same attitude toward the daily irritations of life. Not the major crises, not the hurricanes and earthquakes. Just the daily fog and low clouds, those gnawing inconveniences. My instinct says that life should be always happy, always easy-going without misplacing my cell phone or catching a cold or having to cancel an evening out or spilling coffee down the front of my blouse as I run out the door. Somehow those things have a way of ruining the day. Like looking at the sky and seeing only the clouds, I look at my day and see only the irritations. And yet, just as the sun is still providing light and warmth (well, some anyway), God is still present, always working on behalf of His kingdom, providing opportunities to see Him in new ways through our trials, major and minor.
"And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." Romans 8:27-29
Father, I know this passage from Romans; have quoted it often. How, then, can I become so irritated when I have caught every signal as it turns red? I believe You; I really do. Help my unbelief. Use these frustrations to conform me into Your image. Remind me to dress for the weather, putting on the full armor of God, so I can embrace the day, embrace Your presence in it, even in the "foggy" irritations. Calm my heart; increase my pleasure in you. And help me to be your instrument for people who need the light of Your salvation on this cloudy morning.
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