What about this spring winter weather - and other things you can't control

Spring, O Spring, where art thou?

It’s snowing again in Petersburg as I write this [April 16], with a 17 degree wind chill that makes it feel far more like February than April.

I think a great title for a book would be, “The Spring that Never Came.” Here’s the opening line:

“With the tenacity of a snail slugging past the Stylianos Kyriakides statue at the Boston Marathon, winter just wouldn’t quit.”

Perhaps I should enter that line in The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for terrible opening sentences. I might win a pittance.

Seriously, though, I want that 83 degree day back we had last week. Anyone else ready for a few nice spring days?

At least it’s good to know the One who’s in charge of the weather and the seasons, the days and nights, the sunshine and the rain, the snow and the wind – and I assure you it’s not Cheryl Lemke. There’s not a moment that God is not fully and firmly in control of this creation of His. He spoke it into existence and He sustains it by the word of His power. I’m glad to know that.

Really, it takes the worry away. Because I trust that His ways are higher than mine, His purposes more perfect, His wisdom flawless, and His goodness unquestionable, there’s truly no need to fret. I can’t control the weather, I can’t control what’s happening in Syria, I can’t control what other people do, I can’t even control many things about my own health. So what good does it do to worry?

Someone has once said, “Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but won’t get you anywhere.” The Bible says that you can’t add a single hour to your life by worrying (Matthew 6:27).

I’d rather trust that a Sovereign God has it all under His control, and I’ll choose to rest peacefully and contentedly in His will whether the timing, the method, or the outcome works in the way I think it should, or not. I can only see a sliver of the picture, like looking through a crack in the door. God sees it all, beginning to the end, and has already written the full number of my days in His book. And since He’s the Author of the story, I know the book unfolds for my ultimate good (cf. Romans 8:28).

What about you? Are you worried and troubled about things? Anxious about the “what ifs” in life? Let me encourage you to take your burdens to the Lord in prayer. “Cast all your cares upon Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

And here’s what happens when you learn to trust God with all your stuff. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). If you’re looking for peace, turn to the Prince of Peace – no matter the weather going on in your own life – and find rest for your souls.