What’s Your Forecast? What Does Your Radar Look Like?
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What’s your forecast? What does your radar look like?
What the heck am I even talking about, right?
So, a few years ago I was driving to work and thinking and talking to God as I generally do on my drives. On this particular day, it was really sunny- the first sunny day we had had in a while- and I felt so good! The days previously had been gray and gloomy and the sun was quite the mood boost to see that morning.
Does the weather tend to affect your mood too? Like gray, rainy, and gloomy and you just feel blah? And when it’s sunny you feel like tackling your day with a smile? It can definitely have an impact like it did for me on this particular day.
As I was driving I had a thought.
What would it be like if instead of the weather having some control over our mood and emotions, what if it was the other way around? What if our mood and emotions controlled the weather around us?
Would your forecast be sunny skies? Would your radar look like a storm was brewing and heading your way? Would it be a constant fluctuation of sun and rain? Would it be icy and cold?
What’s your forecast? What’s your radar look like?
A Daily Choice
I had this thought several years ago and I think about it often. In fact, when I saw the movie Encanto for the first time, I got so excited because one of the Madrigal family members’ powers is that her emotions control the weather.
It was then that I realized I am not the only person to have this thought, but if more people thought this way, then maybe more people would have sunny skies instead of rain clouds in their hearts and minds.
You see, if your mood and emotions controlled the weather around you, you may try way harder to keep the sky sunny instead of a pop-up thunderstorm every time you have a slight inconvenience. We have all had days like that, right?
Maybe I am rambling and maybe this won’t make sense to anyone else, but I truly feel like every day we wake up we have a choice to make. We can choose the sunny skies and that no matter what comes our way we will handle it with love and grace. We can choose the rain and the thunder and to live in a negative, complaint-filled headspace. You have a choice every single day of your life.
Every day you wake up and God blesses you with another, how are you going to choose to live it?
What’s your forecast? What does your radar look like?
Looking back…
I lived too many years of my life in the gloomy rain clouds with lightning and thunder, some hail even, shoot maybe even some tornadoes at times. High school was like that for me. I was not always a fun person to be around, I was not the kindest to everyone I came across, and I had so much anxiety built up in me that the sun rarely had a shot at peeking through unless I was with my family.
And I’m fairly certain that my gloomy rain cloud spread to others, unfortunately. Thankfully, after high school and entering college I realized that was no way to live and that was no longer the person I wanted to be.
I am not proud of that person, but I am proud of how far I have come and how I choose to live my life now. Now, I hope that the sunshine I choose daily spreads to others instead. I hope and pray to sprinkle a spoonful of joy, love, and laughter to whoever I come across- in person and online.
I am no expert, and I may not know you personally, but I can 100% guarantee you that you will not miss the rain clouds hanging over your head. You will not miss choosing negativity, complaining, judging, putting others down to feel better, the thunder and the tornadoes constantly raging inside you. You will not miss it. In fact, you will come to crave the sunshine in your life so much that that daily choice becomes something so automatic you don’t even have to think about it anymore.
Just as much as the rain and doom and gloom can affect others, so can the warmth and sunshine. What’s your forecast going to be? What does your radar look like?
As a Mom…
As a mom, I now have a toddler who is starting to have more emotions and feelings. Emotions and feelings bigger than he knows how to handle. And as his parents we have a job to do to help him learn how to process those emotions in a healthy way. As such, we have to do the same with our own emotions. I want to teach him to tackle things in life head-on, see the problem for what it is, find God in the scenario, give the problem to Him, trust Him with it, and move forward. Choosing to simply let the problem be a Florida-style pop-up shower that comes and goes rather quickly.
He is resilient and tough and always has the biggest smile. I always want him to know there is no problem in life too big to come back from, too big that the sun can’t come back out, or too big for God to handle. And if I want him to learn all these things, then I must lead by example and think- what’s my forecast going to be? What does my radar look like?
Here’s the thing- the rain is going to come at times. Life is going to happen. It’s going to throw things your way. Choosing sunshine daily doesn’t mean you have to constantly smile your way through everything and never let anything affect you. But you can choose that it’s going to be a pop-up shower and not a Noah-style flood rain for 40 days. You can be strong against the enemy and life’s circumstances. You can put on a poncho and dance in the rain. You can choose to see life differently, even if it’s different than what you have always known.
My prayer for you is sunshine and hope. My prayer for you is clear skies and joy. My prayer for you is warmth and love. Never let anything in life cloud out your sunshine for too long. Never let anything be so big that you are a walking tornado. I have been there and it’s no way to live.
So for what may now feel like the millionth time in this one short little blog post I ask you these two questions- What’s your forecast going to be? What does your radar look like?
Lord, we thank You for life’s many blessings that feel like sunshine, and life’s many tribulations that feel like storms. We thank You that You are with us in every season no matter what we may be experiencing and that we can always look to You. Lord, I pray that this gives someone a fresh perspective on taking on the days You have given and living in joy and peace only You can provide. Lord we know You will carry us through every storm- let us never feel so lost in the rain clouds we forget to look up and see You. Thank You for being the God above all and loving us through every rainstorm, tornado, and blizzard in our hearts and minds. Thank You for loving and carrying us through it all. Amen.
All the love,
