Rain Rain Go Away

Across the country and around the world, the weather has been remarkable in its intensity this year. Hurricanes, tornadoes, cold snaps, snow in May, and rain, rain, rain. Besides massive flooding, torrential rain is creating other problems . . . like sinkholes. Rain caused a sinkhole in Guatemala that swallowed up a building and gulped it right down--out of sight.

We in the Pacific Northwest are used to rain. Yet even here we've had enough! The dark drizzly days are getting many of us down. Some television newscasters even seem to be turning against their own meteorologists--like it's their fault. All this weather has caused me to think.

I'm leaving in a few minutes for a planning meeting of the 2010 Oregon Christian Writers Summer Conference. Just a few months ago, at the 2009 OCW Summer Conference, we experienced record-breaking heat. Sweltering temperatures passed the one hundred degree mark several days in a row. And don't think that didn't cause consternation!

When it comes to weather, we seem to have a built-in need for moderation . . . not too hot, not too cold, and not too long. Moderation.

Now if we could just see the need for moderation in areas over which we have some control--like diet, exercise, entertainment, and work--we'd all be healthier and probably happier people. But that requires discipline on our part. So, perhaps it's easier just to complain about the weather and express our need for moderation that way. What do you think?

"Let your moderation be known unto all men.

The Lord is at hand."

~Philippians 4:5