Rain, Mud Puddles, and the Nuisances of Life

The rain finally broke the dry silence here in Oregon yesterday, which got me to thinking about how much of a blessing it is. How we let the weather affect us emotionally is, I believe, a good example of how much we let our experience of life be affected by circumstances. Even the most hardcore optimist has trouble seeing silver lining in mud puddles.

I suppose, if you've ever been walking on a sidewalk or in a parking lot and had your way completely blocked by an enormous puddle, you've been faced with a choice. That choice has much more to do with what your attitude about the puddle is, than how wet you happen to get. What happens in becoming an adult that makes our attitudes so muddy, that we can't choose to romp through a small lake of dirty water like a five-year-old?

What I'm saying is, how we handle the nuisances of life will be the same way we handle the "really big" problems. When it rains, do we notice that it got warmer and it's not freezing anymore? Would we really appreciate the sunshine if there were no clouds? Is it really a coincidence that rain is one of the commonly used biblical metaphors to describe the presence of God coming down to earth?

So the next time it pours here in Oregon, look outside and you might see me jumping through mud puddles.