I do not think I will find a reader that will argue that the Minnesota weather for April 2013 has been ridiculous. The wind is howling as I write. It is whipping our little windmill around so fast the blades nearly disappear from view. And it is cold. Downright cold. I think the "high" this week will be a whopping forty degrees- maybe. The schools have cancelled, rescheduled and cancelled the reschedules for baseball and softball. Not thinking the track season is going much better. And golf? Well, the five inches of snow on the ground has probably delayed tee-time, you think?
It's what we talk about in Minnesota. The weather. And God has granted us a lot to talk about this April! It really has not been April. It's been more like March with a twist of January. It's not easy, this non-spring spring. Gardeners, farmers, athletes, and classroom teachers must all be coming to their wits end. But the thing is, the weather really doesn't matter.
It rained every single day I was in Hilo, Hawaii. Every. Single. Day. And it not only rained, it poured. Some days it rained twelve inches. The sun did come out and the day it did, I went to the beach and soaked it all up. It was magical. Hawaiian tropics, on the beach, in the sun, with a gentle breeze on my face. The sun came out one other day. I drove to the beach to sit and relax. By the time my feet hit the sand, it was raining again. I stayed on the beach just like the kids in the water. Let it rain, I am at the beach in Hawaii!
The weather did not change Eric's condition. I could have cursed the rain and the clouds. I could have begged for the sun. I could have let it get to me, but I didn't. Because I had another choice. I had options. We all do. And one of the options was to embrace the rain. To let the rain fall as it may. To enjoy the rainfall, the sound of the water falling onto the metal rooftop. To watch it fill the streets before it made its way down the mountain and back to the sea from which is came. I loved the rain. I cherished the two days of sun, but I loved the rain. Not because it was great having to use an umbrella every day. Not because it was easy driving in it. Not because it was fun to get wet and feel damp for hours afterward. I loved the rain because it was what God had chosen.
I could not change the weather any more than I could change places with Eric. I had no more control over trading the sun for the rain than I did in trading my healthy body for Eric's sick one. I know Eric's dad would have done it in a heartbeat- allow his son relief and take it on for himself. I was not so brave as to think I could even survive the trade. Eric told me, "Mom, no offense, but I don't think you could endure this." I defended my strength, but I did have to wonder...
When we bemoan the weather or the circumstances we find ourselves in, we do not change anything. And change is what we want, really. Deep down when we complain about the current situation, we want another situation. We want warm, not cold. We want calm, not stormy. We want health, not sickness. We want life, not death.
But the lesson I learned in Hawaii's rainy season was that it is a season and we are best to embrace it. You do not have to go so far as love today's weather or love the circumstances that break your heart. But it will be more peaceful in the long run if you accept this season in your life and find something good about it. You may have to dig deep to find something to treasure about your current weather pattern, but do the digging- it is worth it.
It will help to remember this is a season. When Eric was his sickest and I was most scared, it did help to consider how glorious it would be when Eric would smile again, laugh again, and we would get to go home. The stormy weather we were in has provided us with the awareness of how GOOD the sunny days are!
I think when the first really nice day of spring arrives in Minnesota, people all over the world will hear our collective, "Hallelujah!"
