I know I shouldn’t care about the weather, but I do. And I know the weather is the most boring topic on earth, but it’s been part of my conversations for months now. I mean—it’s MARCH and we’re still battling winter. Last week in Indiana it went from 70 to snow in the same day. What the WHAT???? How do you go from 70 to snow in the same day? I mean, that’s just cruel.
I think the things that drives us most crazy about it—more than the relentless and bitter cold, more than the constant shoveling of driveways and scraping of cars, more than the never-ending coats and scarves and boots—is that we simply can’t control it. Weather is the boss of us, having her way every time. Our most carefully laid plans can be wiped out with one cold front. Our healthiest bodies get beaten down and battered after a long winter. Despite our best efforts, weather says: “Yes, it will be 70 today and snowy tonight. Ha HA!”
Even though we know in our head and our hearts that there is little that we actually can control in our lives (other than our response to all the things we can’t control), I know for me it is still unendingly frustrating to have such overt lack of control and to have that utter lack-of-controll-ness thrown in my face and laughed at by Mother Nature. I mean, she could at least let us pretend we have some control. Instead she drops a sinkhole in the middle of a corvette car dealership in Florida.
So, since I can’t control the weather, or how miserable this winter has been, I think I might try to remember all the wonderful things about weather. Things that I also have no control over. Like rainbows. Like the feeling of the warm sun on my neck. Like coming across a random patch of wildflowers. Like the smell of the air after a spring rain. Like the sunset.
Or, even better still, I could also try to remember some of the lovely consequences that come out of the not-so-lovely weather… like cozy fires in the fireplace, complete with s’mores, in the midst of yet another snow storm. Like the hush that falls across the land after a fresh snow fall. Like the way my children clutch to either side of me, half giggling/half terrified, during a booming thunderstorm.
I am wondering where else I can find gratitude in the midst of things that are out of my control—where else I can take a different perspective when things are wearing me down. The weather is in my face, so it’s on my mind, but where else have I been throwing up my hands and declaring the absolute injustice of a situation? Maybe I should look for the rainbows and s’mores in those moments, too.
There is much to grumble about this winter. But there is also much to be grateful for. And look forward to. Spring is almost here. (I mean, technically she is supposed to be here Thursday, but whatever. I mean, yayayay!)
How can you find gratitude today in the things you can’t control?