Everyone talks about the weather because there is nothing you can do about it.
I say, "It is the year of the wet record book."
Ed, my neighbour next door says, "It is the year of rain, mud and mosquitoes, and even they need rain coats."
I told Ed, "2010 will be remembered as the year rain stalked and harassed us relentlessly all spring and summer. In a mean spirit, the rain was determined to teach us that too much is as bad as too little."
Ed replied "It also proved that there is something wrong with our weather now-a-days."
Since everyone talks about the weather, it becomes a handy cause for legitimate and false blame. Once I went for a job interview and I could not have the interview because the power went off due to a storm. I could have said I didn't get the job because of the weather. A wrong telephone number on my resume almost cost me the job. It is sometimes the weather's fault, but perhaps much less than thought.
Blame goes with "because" - "because it was too wet I could not plant the highest price yielding crop." Blame also goes with "if" - "if it hadn't rained Tuesday I could have finished combining." If and because are hollow truths, not the whole truth, or the most important truth. Blaming the weather, others or ourselves is a dead-end street. If we are not careful, we hang on to our blaming instead of facing what is or was. Blame seems to make us feel better, but it is full of self pity that clouds our judgments and actions.
We may not plant or harvest because it is too wet, but blaming the weather is pointless. It is what it is and blame or praise will not change it. When, we cannot fix, change, or make up for something, we may blame instead of dealing with life as it is. We may keep trying to pin the blame on someone or something for what doesn't please us.
Martha blamed Jesus when her brother Lazarus died. She said to Jesus, "If you had been here, my brother would not have died." However, thankfully, Maratha did more than blame. She believed that as the Son of God, Jesus, could raise her brother to life again. Jesus did that, to Martha's joy and thanksgiving. As Jesus called Lazarus to come out of his grave, He calls us to come out of our need to be stuck in our blaming of the weather, others, ourselves and God.
Anything is possible with God. Our times are in God's hands. Now is the right time to trust God and let go of our blame. Neither snow, nor pain, nor heat, nor gloom of night can keep God from turning things from bad to glad. God can make the wet field dry and the empty granary full.
