Singing In The Rain, Refusing To Complain!

I’m starting to see signs of spring despite the weather forecast! According to the weather channel, there will be snow in Michigan on Sunday night and Monday. That is no longer exciting to us! Last November we were excitedly anticipating those snowflakes. Now we are longing for warm days where we can go outside without a coat.

I have tulips and daffodils popping through the soil now. The lilac bushes have leaf buds. The Robins and red winged blackbirds are hopping about the yard. I went and bought some fluffy little chick’s today.

It has been raining a lot today. I know the rain is necessary and part of spring, but oh these gloomy overcast days are hard to get through sometimes. I turn on all the lights in my kitchen to brighten my mood.

I was listening to a song about singing in the rain. I’m pretty sure I have literally done that very thing. Just set all my cares aside and gone out in the rain and as the water pelted across my face, happily sang a cheerful song. However, what about singing in the rain of trials?  The song says singing in the rain, refusing to complain. What? Refusing to complain? That is truly a hard task. It is such an easy thing to do and I think the first thing that comes to mind when something goes wrong. We either choose to complain or blame someone else.

We don’t want to take responsibility for our own shortcomings or lack of diligence in a situation. I have raised 7 kids. I know all about excuses and reasons why things “happened”! We sometimes learn our lessons by what we suffer because we wouldn’t listen to the original instructions.

I remember when my oldest daughter had just gotten her drivers license. She wanted to drive to Ann Arbor, which is a fairly large city. I told her no, I wasn’t comfortable with her driving there until she had more experience. She begged and pleaded and I finally relented despite my misgivings. Lo and behold she got in an accident and totaled the car. No one was injured but we both learned a valuable lesson that day. I told her to never question my judgement again  when it came to driving, if I said no, that was my final answer. She respected that and never again tried to debate with me when I said no. It was an expensive mistake but for her a timely lesson. It also served as the benchmark decision for my other children when they learned to drive!

I was just thinking how we need to learn to hear God’s voice also, and a no is as good as a yes. He knows what we need and sometimes we suffer needlessly because we want to reason and debate. I have been suffering with this bleeding in the retina of my eye for several weeks now, but I know it will heal. I need to rejoice in my trial and not let it discourage me despite the hardship it has created. I’m determined to “keep singing in the rain, refusing to complain”