Natalie Ogbourne

chesterton2A few Saturdays ago, I woke to thunder and began to pray that it wouldn’t rain. Seconds later, I realized that it was 6:30 a.m., the time when my post The Best Thing One Can Do  was scheduled to land in inboxes, mine included.

I wasn’t following Longfellow’s advice for a rainy day.

Sometimes weather is a painful metaphor for life. Trials don’t have to come from camping to do their work, and their work isn’t limited to relationships.

Chesterton says to look up. Longfellow, to let it rain. And James tells us to consider them with joy. None of those are my natural first response. They all pertain to perspective and perspective changes everything.

J’s perspective was different. He came out and said, “Well, I don’t have to worry about keeping the sod wet.”

He let it rain. He looked up. He found a rainbow.

Trials have power and the purpose. They will come. The handling of them is up to us.

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4

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Sharing stories at Coffee for your Heart (holleygerth.com) and Unforced Rhythms.