The past two weeks have been challenging and stressful. Recently, my husband’s company changed its e-mail protocol and, to be compatible, he had to purchase and install new Microsoft Office software. There was one hurdle after another, and he spent most of Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the first week overcoming them, much of that time in phone conversations with Microsoft’s technical support people.
We had planned to take the four days following Labor Day as vacation but, when he discovered on Monday—Labor Day—that the out-of-office reply function wasn’t working properly, he spent a portion of that day trying to resolve the issue. Since the previous week’s computer problems had already set him back in what he hoped to accomplish, he decided to use the rest of his vacation to catch up on the backlog.
He made progress Tuesday and Wednesday but, on Thursday morning, discovered we had lost Internet access. After spending more time on the phone with tech people, he learned that the cause of the problem was the computer’s router, so we spent part of the day driving to a nearby town to purchase a replacement. With the new router installed, Friday was a successful workday. Nice vacation!
One day this week, a song my mother used to sing to me, usually when it was raining, came to mind. It occurred to me that its lyrics have more meaning than I previously realized; that they applied, perhaps, to our present frustrations:
What’s the use of my complaining when it’s raining, raining, raining?
God has sent the rain, so let it be, he knows what is best for you and me.
It's a raining rain, it's a raining rain, hear it patter on the windowpane.
It’s a raining rain, it’s a raining rain, and it will never rain the same rain again.
The Bible tells us that God works all things together for the good of those who love and follow him (Romans 8:28). So, why should I get uptight and anxious when things don’t go my way? No need to complain. I just need to relax, sit back and let it rain, because God has everything under control.
Funny how things change. When I was a young girl and my mother sang that song to me on a rainy day, it sometimes annoyed me. This week, the song brought peace and comfort.
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3 comments:
Funny - when you sang the same song to me it pretty much annoyed me as well. One of a handful of your annoying songs used that included: "Climb, Climb up Sunshine Mountain", and "Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms". I guess Mom's can get away with it though since Ephesians only told fathers not to exasperate their children ;-)
Kevin
The greatest thing about problems is the world around us gets to see how we respond to adverse conditions. Do they get to see the grace of God displayed at those times or do they see the carnality of the old man within us revealed. More importantly we get to seek God's face and see that smile of approval or we hide our selves from his face until we are able to humble ourselves before him again and as in repentance forgiveness.
Dave
Isn't it amazing that we all still keep referring back to the songs we learned from Mom as she was trying to teach right attitudes for life. When we are young the songs of the older generation annoy us only to find out when we get older our songs have become the songs that annoy the youth, and we may find their songs are annoying to us. What a circle. I'm sure when we get to heaven we will all be joyfully singing the same song in one accord as we praise and worship around God's throne! Sharon
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