Rain Days
 

Here it is again another national event and it’s raining.  I don’t know why I should be surprised, maybe it’s because I didn’t spend all week preparing by watching the weather channel.  But as we all know, that’s so last year.  With the new technology, one can watch the weather up to the minute on a computer.  All you need now is the link up and to find a local weather channel; there it is!  But I still use the weather rock (you know, if it’s wet it’s raining, if it’s dry and warm it’s sunny, if it’s moving or gone it’s windy, etc. You get the idea!)

Getting up early just to watch it rain, I decided to read my daily devotional and I thought that I had put the marker in the right spot ready for the next day’s reading, so when I picked it up I didn’t look at the date or day, I just started reading.  Of course, it was what I needed to read, but it was not the “right: day or date.  I have found that’s how God works many a time.  So let me share it with you; it’s from “The Word For You Today.”

Seeing it!  Learn to look for the extraordinary, within the ordinary moment! Opportunities for growth and blessing are constantly coming your way – or passing you right by.  James writes, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given him” (James 1:5 NIV).  Before you act, stop and pray: “Father, show me what I’m not seeing.  Your Word says You can turn a curse into a blessing.  If I can’t change this right now, how can I use it to grow wiser and do better next time?  Have You permitted this problem because You have the solution, and You want me to seek You more earnestly before You reveal it to me?

With this in mind I started looking at all the things that I have been able to accomplish in the last few weeks due to the rain.  Things that I would not have had time to do if it hadn’t rained.  I have been able to visit with friends and call some who I hadn’t talked to in awhile and not have to be in a hurry.  I have been able to get in some extra study time, which I lose over the summer months because of so much travel.  And most important, I’ve had some time with Claire.  So when you really sit and think about it, we need some rain days in our lives to rest and catch up from our hectic schedules.  

                                                            Dan Laterza