This weather reminds us, ‘dance in rain’

Kaity Holtman

The talk of northwest Missouri over the last few weeks has been the weather.

It’s been cool and wet. I’m pretty sure the last three weeks has had more days with rain than without.

Sure, I’ve struggled with mowing my yard, wanting my flowers to have more sunshine, and driving a car covered in mud.

But that all seems petty compared to the farmers working around the rain and wet fields in an attempt to get their crops in.

Growing up on my family’s farm, I learned a lot of life lessons from some farmers pretty close to my heart. One is that sometimes we just don’t have as much control as we think we do.

Farmers work around the weather every single day. During winter, they pull calves in the snow, and in summer they fix fences in the heat of the day.

While they may curse the rain in April and May and pray for it in July and August, they know that at the end of the day, all of that is talk and that it’s not up to them.

Weather is simply one of those circumstances out of our control.

Beyond weather, we all go through circumstances out of our control. Every person’s list is different. Sometimes life seems full of them.

Not to sound cliché, but I’m reminded of the saying, “Life isn’t about waiting on the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

We can get mad at the circumstances, or mad at God for giving us these circumstances. But it’s how we deal with these circumstances that defines the type person we are.

I think the keys to get through those circumstances are the three “P’s” — perseverance, positivity and prayer.

When we hit a brick-wall type struggle that stops us in our tracks, perseverance can be hard to churn up in ourselves. Continuing with a daily routine as we deal with that challenge takes time, but makes overcoming it much easier.

Sometimes I look at those who are going through struggles that I cannot even fathom. Yet, when we are handed our own struggles, we somehow get through them.

I admire those who don’t just fold their hands but instead ride the roller coaster of ups and downs and figure out a way to overcome, or come to terms with the struggle.

Our attitudes play a big role in getting to the perseverance point. Positivity can be an outward façade a lot of the time when we struggle with our challenges internally. We can smile to those who ask as we battle in our hearts and minds.

But if we pretend long enough, that positivity can become real on the inside too.

Now prayer. I believe that’s the key that makes the other two even possible.

I don’t pretend to have a full grasp on whether everything that happens to us is a part of God’s plan, if He gives us these challenges, or how free will fits into the picture.

While I believe everything happens for a reason, I have no idea how much is up to God’s giant control panel, and how much just happens because we’re human.

But what I am 100 percent completely sure of is that leaning on Him during these challenges is what gives us strength, grace and patience.

The hard times can disconnect us, or draw us closer to Him. From what I’ve found, drawing closer to Him makes the persistence and positivity a whole lot easier.

Answers, while sometimes seeming like unanswered prayers, make a lot more sense when we find our answers in God.

The same way our rivers are flooding while Californians face a drought, no one struggle is better or worse than the other. But they’re all a part of each individual’s or each family’s story.

On the bright side, it is often our story that can help someone else dealing with their own.

So whether our circumstance involves too many cloudy days or mud that’s keeping us from moving on, we have to remember that we’re not alone in our journeys.

It’s those with whom we surround ourselves who can help us make it through, just as we can help them, too.