My husband is the little meteorologist in our family. Since he farms and his livelihood depends a lot on the weather, he is checking for rain and sunshine multiple times a day. Our family knows how much the weather affects our lives. A lot of times we beg for sunshine and dry weather to get the crops planted. But then after we get things planted, we pray for rain so that we can get the crops water that they need to grow. We seem like we are never satisfied.
I was getting out of my car in the rain the other day and opened up my flimsy umbrella. I was trying to carry my computer bag, my purse and a bottle of water into work along with holding my umbrella and my badge to enter the building. The rain was pouring down pretty hard and every step I took caused water to splash causing my pant legs to be soaking wet by the time I got to my office.
I was frustrated with the rain and continued to wish for the sunshine throughout the morning so that the ground would dry out and my husband could harvest the crops. Since I don’t have windows in my office, I was very surprised when I went out for lunch and the sun was shining brightly showing me a brand new day and bringing a smile to my face!
If we look at the sun as the high times and the rain as the low times in our lives, we can see that sometimes we have to experience both the highs and the lows to appreciate life and grow stronger – just like we need sunshine and rain for the crops to grow.
Sometimes dark clouds creep into our lives and we deal with “the rain” the best we can by covering up with our umbrella of faith and our rain boots of trust believing things will get better. And then before we know it the sun comes out and we are smiling again.
So when you look outside and see the rain, don’t get depressed and immediately wish for sunshine. Instead just grab an umbrella and walk through the puddles in your rain boots ………you know, the polka dotted ones! 
