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– Pastor’s Corner –

By Pastor Beverly Thompson First Presbyterian Church • Cornell, Wis. and New Hope • Hannibal, Wis.

I’m guessing – based on the weather forecast – by the time you read this, we will have experienced some of our chilliest weather so far this fall. Why did God create this beautiful earth with such cold, snowy, wintery weather?

Why didn’t God just create a paradise for us – always comfortably warm, always pleasant – none of this gloomy, cloudy rain for days on end, no snow and no temperatures below zero, windchill factors, etc., etc.? Oh, that’s right, God did create a paradise, but Adam and Eve messed that up for us.

I whine about cold weather every year. I try not to, but… And every year, it seems to get colder for me – just one of the joys of aging. But I know if it weren’t for the winter months, I would not have such a tremendous appreciation of warm weather when it does come.

I am also not a fan of weather that is too hot, either. Yes, I am a princess – please don’t tell anyone; it is a secret!

If I could have my way, we would have 360 days of low humidity weather, temps between 65 and 75, maybe a few days in the low 60s or mid-80s, and no more than five days of winter. I would have to think about temperatures dropping below freezing, because that would really muck things up for just a few days. You get the idea – if I could, I would have an environment with perfect weather.

Some might say, “Where’s the fun in that?!,” and that’s true. Wouldn’t life get boring after a while, with almost nothing except perfect weather? OK, I hear you – you’re willing to try perfect weather, but that isn’t going to happen, sorry – just a dream of mine.

Our lives are the same way. We might want them to be perfect, but they are not. It is a fact of humanity, we will never be perfect. Like the weather, if we were perfect, if life were perfect, we wouldn’t appreciate our blessings as much.

It typically takes challenges, difficulties in our lives, for us to appreciate the beauty, the good things in our lives. We typically grow with those challenges, if we see them as learning experiences.

Sometimes, it takes the death of a beloved pet or someone we cherish, for us to appreciate life. That old adage says it all – “we don’t know what we had, until we lose it.”

Appreciate life. God gives us so many opportunities, so many blessings. Let’s be wise enough to see them and appreciate them while we still have them.

Look around you. You probably don’t live in a palace, but if you have a roof over your head, food for your table, clothes to wear, you have many blessings to count. Look around you – count your blessings and be grateful!

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