The Weather of the Heart

The Weather 
of the Heart 

Every afternoon brings several miles of walking with my dog—or maybe, she walks me!  Today was different. Dark storm clouds gathered in the sky in front of me.  No need for thunder to warn me that rain was on the way.  Yet, Jezebel just walked me on…when usually the drop in air pressure warns her first, and she takes me home, pronto.  Still the clouds gathered, still we walked on….fathered and farther from home. Who can I call if we get stuck out here?  Is it really safe to be walking across this open field?  Sprinkles of rain portended possible downpour.  Then, the walk started toward home…we had reached the farthest point, and now we made tracks home.  The clouds hung in the close humid air. Gee, maybe we will make it after all!  But I quickened our pace no matter how times she wanted to stop.  We took a short cut off the path and came out very close to home.  What did I think when we made it through the door?  Guess. 

I worried over the walk and I missed the walk itself!

 Enough said?   

A parable is a story which is not literally true but speak Truth.  That walk did actually happen.  But in this case, the Truth is that I had worried out the walk.  I missed my usual observations, the prayers I say, and the reflections that catch up with me. 

 Now contrast that with Gene Kelly and the famous “Singing in the Rain.”  There’s a song of optimism, new love, energy inside him which is for me “the weather of the heart.”  The interior weather of the heart drowns out the rain that falls from the skies.

I'm singing in the rain
Just singing in the rain
What a glorious feelin'
I'm happy again
I'm laughing at clouds
So dark up above
The sun's in my heart
And I'm ready for love....

In fact, there comes a time when we recognize that the real matter is not what happens to us--life is not fair and adversities do rain upon us.  But we can discover some gifts that come in adversity, from facing up to our worries so that we do not run from them. Leave it to Shakespeare...again: 

 The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
The Merchant Of Venice Act 4, scene 1, 180–187

Walking with a Question

What would life be like if you had to carry an umbrella with you no matter where you went--just out of fear, that worry that the skies would open up on you?  Nobody does that, you say?  Really? I ask back.  

Plenty of people go through life with so much worry that it literally empties the day and days to come of its life blood.  The weather of the heart is such that it knows, it does not worry, but it expects it to rain anytime--yet rejoices that the weather of the heart comes ultimately from God's love and not this world. Maybe we discover that the rain is drowned out by the mercy of God.