24 hours

I know I am not the only one who has experienced all four seasons in the last 24 hours, but I may be the only person who voluntarily sat outside in a lawn chair Wednesday afternoon watching young men and women, none of whom I share DNA with, practice soccer (it wasn't even a game) and was pelted by snow that was shaped like hail and stung like it too.

Why? Because love can motivate you to do crazy things.

I'm giggling because the young man who pops up from the ground is from a warm island. He'd stopped practicing long enough to make a snow angel. 

Before practice I wrote a devotional thought for a group of ladies I share with every Thursday. After being assaulted by precipitation and having the sun come out and the wind stop after we were done, it seems appropriate to share here as well. 

Tuesday it was sunny and near 70.

Then came Wednesday. Half that temperature and I saw snow flying at least twice.

Who knew you could experience all four seasons in 24 hours?

We seem to expect seasons to gradually, progressively, predictably go from one to the next. Spring "should" be sunny, moderate temperatures with rain thrown in, preferably mostly at night so it doesn't mess up our daytime plans. Unless a rainbow is involved. Then daytime rain is welcome. But not too long or too hard. Summer should be warm. Much warmer. Hot, but not too hot. With all sunny days. Rain should definitely come only at night. Fall should be a gradual cooling, with plenty of sun filled days and crisp. cooler evenings. Again, rain while we sleep so that our bonfires aren't affected. Winter. Well, we expect winter to be colder. Snow is also expected. But not too much of either where we are inconvenienced or in danger. There should be none of this unpredictable yoyo weather. And yet the reality is that seasons are not linear. It is not going to be 30 degrees January 1, 301/2 Jan. 2, 31 Jan. 3, etc. Rain and snow and even ice or drought are coming when they come. If we know and accept that we can't control the weather, we experience less stress and are better able to accept and enjoy whatever the day brings.

Isn't this an accurate description of life as well. 

We have a plan, all mapped out, (or at least a vague idea of how things will play out.) 

And then it gets real. And it isn't linear. 

There are hiccups. 

An illness.

A surprise visit. 

A sudden death. 

A miracle. 

Unexpected love. 

Interspersed with our "planned" everyday life. 

When we begin to realize that we are not in control. that God has an eternal plan He is working in and through us, when we allow Him to have His way with us, we experience less stress and we are better able to accept whatever the day brings. 

from Psalm 139

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,”

even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

I awake, and I am still with you...

You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

You hem me in, behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high; I cannot attain it.

Search me, O God, and know my heart!

Try me and know my thoughts!

And see if there be any grievous way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting!