Each of us makes his own weather,
determines the color of the skies in the emotional universe which he inhabits. -- Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
This quote was in an e-mail that I received this morning. I thought it quite an appropriate thought. I have read blogs from people who live in the far north who are just now beginning to see signs of spring and sunshine. They are rejoicing.
In Florida, winter days are often just "another day in paradise." We wear sweaters, maybe, and we almost always have the sun shining. I remember my children going north for college and commenting about rarely seeing the sun during winter. My best friend and her husband moved to the Chicago area in October, and she told me that she went out and bought brighter lightbulbs for the lamps in her house to make things brighter.
We are affected by our surroundings, aren't we. Temperatures are beginning to climb here, and hurricane season will start soon. This brings a certain unease.
But this certainly isn't the weather that Bishop Sheen speaks of. Our circumstances might seem dismal at times, but we can make the choice to have sunshine in our days, contentment in our hearts.
When I lived in Haiti, a favorite song of the Christians was "My Father Planned it All." It says that even when the way seems dreary, and there are dark shadows, we can know that wherever He leads us, our Father planned it all. I love it in the Creole language. It says Papa-m ranje-l konsa. God is lovingly referred to as Papa in Creole. I love the intimacy that that words expresses.
2 comments:
Great post. As Christians aren't we supposed to "brighten the corner" where we are? If we reflect God's love, His radiant light will shine through to others. I know that even in the dark nights of winter, the faces of the ladies in my BSF Bible study group shine like the sun and then there is no night.
PS: BSF stands for Bible Study Fellowship. You can Google it and see if they have a group in your area. They had one day group in Columbus, MS and have several here in Virginia Beach. Our chapter just formed a couple of years ago and is a night class for those who work. It is intense study with questions, group discussion, lectures and written notes, but even though I have grown up reading the Bible, there are so many things I still don't know. They have limits on how many can come in a chapter but usually the first week of the month is a "get to know us" session. This year the study is Genesis and next year it will be Romans. I think you might really enjoy the study and the fellowship.
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