Clouds In My Forecast

Fourth Week of Advent; Luke 1:39-45

Within a few days, Mary set out and hurried to the hill country to a town of Judah,

where she entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth.

As much as I enjoy living in Michigan, one major downside is the cloudy skies. They (whoever they are) keep track of this sorta thing, and apparently, Michigan only has 65-75 totally clear days each year. There are 365 days in a year, so that means…well, I’ll let you do the math. If it makes you feel any better, we are not the worst. There are six other states that get even less sun than we do.

Of course, that means that our chances of seeing astronomical events, like meteors, shooting stars, eclipses and the like, are pretty slim. That is why I am really glad Jesus was not born in Michigan. If he had, those poor shepherds probably would never had seen the angels in the sky. It would have been too cloudy. They would have heard voices in the sky and just freaked out, ran home and hid, instead of trekking to Bethlehem. Our Christmas story would have been very different.

In today’s Gospel, we hear the story of Mary traveling to see her cousin Elizabeth. Tradition says that Mary traveled from Nazareth to the Judea. Elizabeth probably lived close to Jerusalem, since her husband, Zacharia, was serving a term as a priest in the Temple. Mary would have traveled in a caravan with several others. The route would have been dangerous, over mountain passes where criminals would lie in wait for pilgrims. Fortunately, this was a well-known route and the leader of the caravan would have been familiar with the path, so they would not have needed to rely on seeing stars to guide them, even though they could see them clearly. Unlike in Michigan.

Cloudy or not, the trip would have been long and arduous. By the time Mary arrived at Elizabeth’s home, she would have been exhausted. Elizabeth would have wrapped in her care and made sure Mary was fed, given a comfortable place to sleep and provided a safe place to talk about what had happened to Mary. That’s what family (however you define family) does for us. Family provides us shelter from the storms of life.

And this is what I believe God does. God provides me a safe place to process and deal with the storms of life. Note that I did not say God hides me from the storms of life. There is no hiding. I must confront the issues if I am ever to move through and past them. But because I believe God is ever with me and ever within me, I can tap into God’s peace and allow that peace to still my anxious heart.

I do not understand how it works, but I guess that’s why it’s called the peace that surpasses all understanding. I have learned that I need to be open to receiving that peace, however. I can’t just expect that God will wave a magic wand and make all my troubles disappear. No, I have to ask God to increase that peace in me. It’s already there; I just need to feel it and acknowledge it. When I do, I realize I do not have to live in fear, no matter what is going on in my life. It's as if the clouds just melt away.

Over the next week or so, life will get pretty crazy. So many people to see, places to go and things to do. I won’t be able to do everything I want. And I’m going to have to do a few things I don’t want. But I know that all I have to do is travel under sunny skies to that place in my soul where God is, and reassure myself that God’s peace is there. I will bask in that peace and allow it to reassure me that all is well and that, if there are clouds in my forecast, they will lift and I will see the sun.

Every Day.

© 2024 by Timothy J. Doppel

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