Rainy Days and Mondays

I sit in the room where I write, exercise, and sometimes just look out the window at the trees and the sky. Ellie's bed is in front of the window (I say bed, but at night, she mostly sleeps between us in our bed.) I enjoy sharing this time with her.

Today, the view is a dreary, rainy day. A rainy Monday, in fact. Since I was a teenager in the 70s, I can't help but think of the song "Rainy Days and Mondays" or "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head."

As long as I can remember, I have always liked rainy days. In fact, it was a rainy day when we went to the hospital in labor with our first baby. I remember telling Glen I was glad it was rainy because I liked rainy days.

As I sit here, watching the raindrops falling from the oak trees, making concentric circles in the puddle our sidewalk has become, I find an inexplicable sense of pleasure. For one thing, I won't have to water the flowers today. 

But there is a price to pay for enjoying the rain. For one thing, we didn't get to take a long walk this morning. And the schoolyard will be too wet and soggy for Ellie to sniff around there today. In a couple hours, her internal clock will tell her it is time to go for her favorite activity of the day. I'm afraid she won't understand why we aren't going. She will give me a mournful look with those beautiful caramel-colored eyes, and I will not be able to make her happy. This disappoints her, and it hurts me.

That's the way it seems to be sometimes, isn't it? For one person to have something they want, someone else will be disappointed. Looking back at my life, I am amazed at how many things that seemed disappointments at first turned out to be something totally different.

As a high school senior, I decided to go away to college and study journalism. A family member discouraged me from this choice, and I decided not only to stay in our hometown but to change my course of study. I never thought of becoming a nurse, but the thought popped into my head and seemed like a good idea. That brief blip of thought led to an excellent 46-year-long career. One might ask, from "whence cometh" that thought? I  know the Lord was leading my thoughts that day. God knew he needed me to be in Mobile to meet a particular, handsome young man. He knew He intended us to marry, have children, and minister to others together. It was a quick decision, without much thought involved, and I have thanked the Lord for it more times than I can count. What seemed like a big disappointment at first turned into the greatest blessing of my life.

I am sure, just like I will feel toward Ellie this afternoon when I have to disappoint her, that the Lord hurts when He has to disappoint us in our hopes and dreams. But He knows He has something better, something greater for us. It is up to us to believe the Scriptures, "But as for God, His way is perfect" (2 Samuel 22:31.) 

This Christian life we lead is a walk of faith, not sight. We can't see the path ahead of us, but we can trust our way to the one who IS "the Way, the Truth and the Life," (John 14:6.)

These thoughts bring to mind the lyrics from one of my favorite hymns, "Day By Day."

Day By Day

By Linda Sandell

Day by day, and with each passing moment,

Strength I find to meet my trials here;

Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,

I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.

He, whose heart is kind beyond all measure,

Gives unto each day what He deems best,

Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,

Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day the Lord Himself is near me,

With a special mercy for each hour;

All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me,

He whose name is Counsellor and Pow’r.

The protection of His child and treasure,

Is a charge that on Himself He laid;

“As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,”

This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then, in every tribulation,

So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,

That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation,

Offered me within Thy holy Word.

Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,

E’er to take, as from a father’s hand,

One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,

Till with Christ the Lord I stand.

ADDENDUM: Yesterday, after I had written this, the rain stopped, and the sun came out.  By late afternoon, it had dried up sufficiently for Ellie to go to the schoolyard.  While there were some places too wet for her to go, she still had a great time sniffing and tracking.