I moved from sunny southern California to cold northeastern
Scotland, more years ago than I will admit at the moment.
At first, every morning, after breaking the ice off the end
of my nose, I would open the curtains and look out. If the skies were black, that
set my mood for the day. (If they were blue, in my naiveté I assumed that meant
warm, but that misconception was soon dispelled!)
After a few months of this I realized that it was not smart
for me to set my moods by the weather. Life is about more than whether it’s
sunny or raining. So I steadfastly kept the curtains closed initially, in order
to resist the urge to set my mood accordingly.
This morning as I ate my breakfast, I unthinkingly opened
the new weather app on my iPad that Robbie downloaded the other day. It didn’t
look good for today. Disappointed, I scrolled through the next fifteen days,
and actually today, by comparison, is great. The other fourteen days don’t even
show a hint of yellow sun. Just stair rod rain day after day.
As my mood sagged I realized I’d substituted a glance at the
sky with a study of the high tech forecast. Time to ban that from my morning
routine!
It’s so easy to base my mood on externals, rather than on
the internal truths which never change. Scripture says that the joy of the Lord
is my strength, so if I rely on staying close to him, the joy should remain
come rain, sleet, or snow.
As I walked Dusty, I praised Jesus by going through some of
his wonderful names – King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Saviour, Holy One,
Righteous One, Prince of Peace, Faithful One.
My mood rose, and you know what else?
The sun is out.
No comments:
Post a Comment