God Grant Me Serenity Concerning the Weather

I don't know about anywhere else because I have only lived in Mississippi, but the weather is always a topic of conversation. There are a few occasions when the comments are complimentary to God's choice that day: "Oh! What a gorgeous day!" It's really nice out." "Praise God, we needed this rain." or "The snow is so beautiful." But sadly, I hear complaints more often than not.

Over the past weeks, the topic of the unusual spring we are having has arisen. As I have heard many talking about, newsing about, tweeting about, facebooking about the weather, this prayer came to my mind:

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change; 
courage to change the things I can; 
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; 
enjoying one moment at a time; 
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; 
taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it; 
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will; 
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next. 
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

I realize that this prayer is more often applied to subjects of far greater weight and import than the weather. But what if we applied it to the weather too?

Does complaining change the weather? No. 

Does God ordain the weather just as He does the other things in my daily life? Yes.

Are we wasting time worrying about something we can not change while we should be working on the things that we can? Yes. 

I've been watching Ken Burn's "The Dust Bowl" online. Now that was some weather to be concerned about. I think that those poor people would slap us across the face for complaining about 40 degree temps in May. 

If the weather bothers your sinuses or your arthritis, I see that you have some difficulty this time of year. I have those same problems. I am making a point in the future to take those pains to Him and not spread it across the World Wide Web before I do. 

Now, I'm going to post it again so we can read over the words one more time. I'm going to think about them and ask God to help me apply the words as He sees fit in my daily life.

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change; 
courage to change the things I can; 
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; 
enjoying one moment at a time; 
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; 
taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it; 
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will; 
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next. 
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr