Two Pink Umbrellas

While for the most part I prefer sun (which we actually had today!!!) I generally don’t mind the rain.  Sometimes I even enjoy a good thunderstorm, or a light rain that I can run in.  But when yesterday was going on about a week straight, I was ready for the rain to be done.

Earlier in the week I was thinking about how the weather outside is similar to the circumstances in which we find ourselves.  Nothing I did could make the rain stop the last few days.  And, often times, the things in our lives just are what they are and we can’t really change it.  Something bad happens or something good happens and we can’t change that.

However, just because there’s a little rain doesn’t mean we can’t have fun.  Maybe we enjoy a good book curled up on the couch inside.  Or maybe we go out and jump in some puddles.  And in life, “rainy” circumstances don’t have to dictate whether we have joy or not.  Joy comes from contentment in God, not satisfaction in our circumstances. 

I’ve thought of much of this before, but the biggest lesson came yesterday.  You see, as I said before, rain doesn’t really bother me much.  I sometimes wear a rain jacket, but after 6 summers working at camp, you really just learn to live with rain.  Therefore I never really have used an umbrella much at all.  At camp, you already have 16,000 other things shoved in your backpack, you don’t have room for an umbrella… so… you just get wet. No big deal.

Well, my philosophy on this all changed yesterday when I got…

AN UMBRELLA!  (Thanks Debbie and Mike.)  And not just any umbrella… probably one of the coolest umbrellas I’ve ever seen. 🙂

It seems like a simple gift, but as I thought more about it yesterday, I realized that sometimes maybe I take my analogies between weather and life too far…

Just like I was “just getting wet” with the real rain (that’s just how life was)… sometimes I would just let myself “get wet” in life when maybe an umbrella was all I needed.  It’s easy to wallow and complain about the rain but why not just put up an umbrella.   Sure, sometimes the storm is just too big and an umbrella won’t help you out… and even with an umbrella you might get a few sprinkles on you. But God gives us the Truth of His Word to protect us from the attacks raining down from Satan.  We’ve just gotta pull out the “umbrella” and be willing to use it.

So here I sit… with my two pink umbrellas… ready for whatever rain may come my way.  🙂