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I am a person that practices Christianity. I do struggle with certain issues in that realm, but overall I do believe the faith and strive to do what is right (but I'm also aware it's not just about a list of dos & don'ts). One particular issue I have struggled with lately--the weather.
Some have said that it's a sin to complain about the weather, and I don't know if that's true. Some people like cold weather and they can move to, say, upstate NY and experience plenty in the realm of a good strong winter. Others like warm weather and can move to Hawaii or FL (or they desire to) where they can experience plenty of warmth, and I see nothing wrong with that.
The real struggle for me is that it is very ingrained in my attitude that the weather should follow the seasons and should not strongly deviate from it. In other words, I absolutely cannot STAND the whole "if you don't like the weather in Kentucky [or wherever], wait 5 minutes and it'll change." Rather, to me, once it's spring, you should NEVER NEVER have days of where it acts like it's still winter, sometimes even into the 1st week of May (assuming you're not in upstate NY where that sort of thing may well be the "going rate" of things), nor should you have days in December where it's in the 80s, unless you live in Key West etc. To me, the calendar is GOD pretty much, it is THAT emphatic in terms of it being THE guide as to what the weather is supposed to be like for a region for a particular time of the year.
Instead, when it starts acting goofy and having these freak cold days in the middle of April, or with the very stubborn winter we've had where it's been sometimes 35 degrees below normal (yesterday it only got up to 24 when the normal was 61), I become extremely angry. I don't know why, unless it's maybe that I feel like I'm being cheated or not receiving what I deserve; in my mind, I have the RIGHT to EXPECT that it's supposed to not be so cold that it's in the 20s when it's supposed to be in the 60s (and I do mean SUPPOSED to be). I shouldn't be dealing with scraping ice just to be able to open the doors to get inside my car during a month that the 60s are the going rate. If it does that in January and we live in upstate NY, that's fine, but such is not what's going on here.
Basically, I think that if you are, say, a person who hates the cold and you decide to move to Key West FL so as to have perpetual warmth and to avoid the cold, I think it makes perfect sense for a person to choose to live in such a place and then, yes, have the right to EXPECT that it is SUPPOSED to be that way, and not have freak frost periods in the 30s that are totally abnormal for the area. In like manner, if you hate the heat and are willing to tolerate a cold winter to have it, I could see such a person moving to somewhere like Montana and then EXPECTING to not EVER have to put up with temperatures in the 90s EVER again, EVER, not even 1 day out of 25,000. EVER. For the weather to do otherwise is as large of a wrong as when Cain killed Abel or Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. (Well, maybe I don't think it's QUITE that wrong, but I'd put it way on up there.)
Also, I think it has to do with that I value stability and consistency. If all of this sounds like a silly thing to get so worked up over (I can hear many of you saying "I could understand you being angry at your mother dying of breast cancer or your brother dying at 45 of a stroke, but weather, really? Don't you know there are people in 3rd world countries who can barely even eat anything?") well think of it this way--how long would you remain employed at your job if your shift normally began at 9 am. but instead of consistently arriving close to 9 a.m. you instead were all over the place arriving at 4 a.m. one day and 11 a.m. and then 7 a.m. and then 2 p.m, and it was constantly like this? How long would you last at that job?
Or, what if one day your wife's name was Jane, the next day her appearance was totally different and her name was now Barbara, and you two also now lived in a different house and she also was into different hobbies and had a different personality, and your way to work had changed, and all your co-workers, on and on--and it was CONSTANTLY doing this? How much would that make you feel like it was the Twilight Zone and how much would you be SCREAMING for some stability and normalcy to return?
That is precisely how such weather makes me feel.
I become so angry, I actually find myself screaming at God "what is wrong with you? Are you psychotic? Do you have a mental disorder" and things like "Porky Pig and Bugs Bunny could do a better job managing the weather than you." It really is that ingrained in my belief system that the weather is not supposed to jump all over the place like that. To me, if the normals are (say) 64 and 44, then it should be within 5 degrees or less of that every single day for all-time, period. I don't find that "boring," I find it refreshingly STABLE, again think of that scenario I painted and how refreshing it would be to get your normal life back. That is exactly how that makes me feel.
Also, it upsets me because there are scenarios where I might not actually mind it so much, but it never occurs then. To wit: extreme heat as in the high 90s or 100s can really take its tool on me, and at such times I would not mind a 25 degree swing that instead meant the temperatures were around 75-80 instead. Anymore I find that I really value the periods when the temps are between 60-85 or so, you know, no EXTREME cold or heat. Thus, I wouldn't mind a 25 degree swing that meant a break from a big heat wave or huge amount of cold.
However, it seemingly NEVER does that, instead it seems to ALWAYS be all over the place during the very period when you can reasonably expect temps between 60 and 85. That very short and glorious period where it's not so cold nor so hot, that is the very period it seems so intent on messing up royally. The weather seems to be on a permanent never-ending mission to basically make the weather extreme in its heat or cold all the time, totally butcher the nice 60-85 period, and just jump all over the place in general.
In like manner, last summer it rained hardly any at all during the extreme heat periods, when rain would've meant relief and replenishing of the lakes etc. However, once it was now in the 60s and 70s and the weather was good for enjoyment without the temperature extremes, it rained like freaking crazy to make up for the summer, as opposed to raining during the summer when such would've meant some relief from the heat.
Seriously, I know how this makes me sound, believe me, I don't typically psychoanalyze things to this degree, but it seems the past few years this sort of thing has been happening more and more, and frankly I'm just tired of it. I can't get past my thinking that it's just plain stupid and illogical for it to behave that way, and that frankly it's just plain stupid. I know I'm supposed to respect God's sovereignty in that He can do whatever He chooses, in most things I find I can do that somewhat, but with this I just can't. I really do believe with everything in me that I know better than Him how the weather should be, and that if there is some reason that He really thinks this sort of thing is the way to do it, I think He owes me an explanation as to WHY. Really, why can't you just let people have some fun for a change? Why must you always spoil everything so? Why do you have to take the wonderful 60-85 climate and just butcher the daylights out of it and rape & molest it like it's a 50 cent hooker?
If this sort of post makes some of you go "wow, what a psycho," okay I can expect that. I will just say this--plenty of people I know who have never been accused of such, even they have observed this past winter and said "I've never seen anything like it" and "it doesn't make a bit of sense," so that sort of tells me that even if I don't take it to the levels they do, they sort of are feeling the same way somewhat in terms of its weirdness.
I am a person that practices Christianity. I do struggle with certain issues in that realm, but overall I do believe the faith and strive to do what is right (but I'm also aware it's not just about a list of dos & don'ts). One particular issue I have struggled with lately--the weather.
Some have said that it's a sin to complain about the weather, and I don't know if that's true. Some people like cold weather and they can move to, say, upstate NY and experience plenty in the realm of a good strong winter. Others like warm weather and can move to Hawaii or FL (or they desire to) where they can experience plenty of warmth, and I see nothing wrong with that.
The real struggle for me is that it is very ingrained in my attitude that the weather should follow the seasons and should not strongly deviate from it. In other words, I absolutely cannot STAND the whole "if you don't like the weather in Kentucky [or wherever], wait 5 minutes and it'll change." Rather, to me, once it's spring, you should NEVER NEVER have days of where it acts like it's still winter, sometimes even into the 1st week of May (assuming you're not in upstate NY where that sort of thing may well be the "going rate" of things), nor should you have days in December where it's in the 80s, unless you live in Key West etc. To me, the calendar is GOD pretty much, it is THAT emphatic in terms of it being THE guide as to what the weather is supposed to be like for a region for a particular time of the year.
Instead, when it starts acting goofy and having these freak cold days in the middle of April, or with the very stubborn winter we've had where it's been sometimes 35 degrees below normal (yesterday it only got up to 24 when the normal was 61), I become extremely angry. I don't know why, unless it's maybe that I feel like I'm being cheated or not receiving what I deserve; in my mind, I have the RIGHT to EXPECT that it's supposed to not be so cold that it's in the 20s when it's supposed to be in the 60s (and I do mean SUPPOSED to be). I shouldn't be dealing with scraping ice just to be able to open the doors to get inside my car during a month that the 60s are the going rate. If it does that in January and we live in upstate NY, that's fine, but such is not what's going on here.
Basically, I think that if you are, say, a person who hates the cold and you decide to move to Key West FL so as to have perpetual warmth and to avoid the cold, I think it makes perfect sense for a person to choose to live in such a place and then, yes, have the right to EXPECT that it is SUPPOSED to be that way, and not have freak frost periods in the 30s that are totally abnormal for the area. In like manner, if you hate the heat and are willing to tolerate a cold winter to have it, I could see such a person moving to somewhere like Montana and then EXPECTING to not EVER have to put up with temperatures in the 90s EVER again, EVER, not even 1 day out of 25,000. EVER. For the weather to do otherwise is as large of a wrong as when Cain killed Abel or Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. (Well, maybe I don't think it's QUITE that wrong, but I'd put it way on up there.)
Also, I think it has to do with that I value stability and consistency. If all of this sounds like a silly thing to get so worked up over (I can hear many of you saying "I could understand you being angry at your mother dying of breast cancer or your brother dying at 45 of a stroke, but weather, really? Don't you know there are people in 3rd world countries who can barely even eat anything?") well think of it this way--how long would you remain employed at your job if your shift normally began at 9 am. but instead of consistently arriving close to 9 a.m. you instead were all over the place arriving at 4 a.m. one day and 11 a.m. and then 7 a.m. and then 2 p.m, and it was constantly like this? How long would you last at that job?
Or, what if one day your wife's name was Jane, the next day her appearance was totally different and her name was now Barbara, and you two also now lived in a different house and she also was into different hobbies and had a different personality, and your way to work had changed, and all your co-workers, on and on--and it was CONSTANTLY doing this? How much would that make you feel like it was the Twilight Zone and how much would you be SCREAMING for some stability and normalcy to return?
That is precisely how such weather makes me feel.
I become so angry, I actually find myself screaming at God "what is wrong with you? Are you psychotic? Do you have a mental disorder" and things like "Porky Pig and Bugs Bunny could do a better job managing the weather than you." It really is that ingrained in my belief system that the weather is not supposed to jump all over the place like that. To me, if the normals are (say) 64 and 44, then it should be within 5 degrees or less of that every single day for all-time, period. I don't find that "boring," I find it refreshingly STABLE, again think of that scenario I painted and how refreshing it would be to get your normal life back. That is exactly how that makes me feel.
Also, it upsets me because there are scenarios where I might not actually mind it so much, but it never occurs then. To wit: extreme heat as in the high 90s or 100s can really take its tool on me, and at such times I would not mind a 25 degree swing that instead meant the temperatures were around 75-80 instead. Anymore I find that I really value the periods when the temps are between 60-85 or so, you know, no EXTREME cold or heat. Thus, I wouldn't mind a 25 degree swing that meant a break from a big heat wave or huge amount of cold.
However, it seemingly NEVER does that, instead it seems to ALWAYS be all over the place during the very period when you can reasonably expect temps between 60 and 85. That very short and glorious period where it's not so cold nor so hot, that is the very period it seems so intent on messing up royally. The weather seems to be on a permanent never-ending mission to basically make the weather extreme in its heat or cold all the time, totally butcher the nice 60-85 period, and just jump all over the place in general.
In like manner, last summer it rained hardly any at all during the extreme heat periods, when rain would've meant relief and replenishing of the lakes etc. However, once it was now in the 60s and 70s and the weather was good for enjoyment without the temperature extremes, it rained like freaking crazy to make up for the summer, as opposed to raining during the summer when such would've meant some relief from the heat.
Seriously, I know how this makes me sound, believe me, I don't typically psychoanalyze things to this degree, but it seems the past few years this sort of thing has been happening more and more, and frankly I'm just tired of it. I can't get past my thinking that it's just plain stupid and illogical for it to behave that way, and that frankly it's just plain stupid. I know I'm supposed to respect God's sovereignty in that He can do whatever He chooses, in most things I find I can do that somewhat, but with this I just can't. I really do believe with everything in me that I know better than Him how the weather should be, and that if there is some reason that He really thinks this sort of thing is the way to do it, I think He owes me an explanation as to WHY. Really, why can't you just let people have some fun for a change? Why must you always spoil everything so? Why do you have to take the wonderful 60-85 climate and just butcher the daylights out of it and rape & molest it like it's a 50 cent hooker?
If this sort of post makes some of you go "wow, what a psycho," okay I can expect that. I will just say this--plenty of people I know who have never been accused of such, even they have observed this past winter and said "I've never seen anything like it" and "it doesn't make a bit of sense," so that sort of tells me that even if I don't take it to the levels they do, they sort of are feeling the same way somewhat in terms of its weirdness.
Okay, what do you think? Let me have it.
Seriously, based on what you've written, I recommend psychological counseling to find out why you have such extreme feelings regarding this issue.
Since I have an official "Internet Psychologist" card (it's around here somewhere) I'm going to suggest you find out how to deal with your frustration. Because I think that is what this is all about. The weather is something you can't control. You want it one way and it's the opposite. So who get's the blame? The Big Guy! (He gets blamed for just about everything else.... why not the weather?)
Serious advice: get a check-up. Blood pressure, blood work, all that to make sure there's nothing physical going on. Then, if everything is OK, ask for a referral to someone who can help you deal with the frustration... and the anger. No one deserves to live a life where you're shaking your fist at God because it's cold in March. There are people who can help you deal with this and improve your quality of life. Do you want to be a happier person? Get the check up and go from there. We're not on this Earth to get this upset over lousy weather. There are people who can teach you how to deal with your feelings. I wish you well!
I become so angry, I actually find myself screaming at God "what is wrong with you? Are you psychotic? Do you have a mental disorder" and things like "Porky Pig and Bugs Bunny could do a better job managing the weather than you."
I really do believe with everything in me that I know better than Him how the weather should be, and that if there is some reason that He really thinks this sort of thing is the way to do it, I think He owes me an explanation as to WHY.
Why do you have to take the wonderful 60-85 climate and just butcher the daylights out of it and rape & molest it like it's a 50 cent hooker?
Now that He has your attention, is this the response you think He wants?
I posted here because I am really trying to be a Christian type of person. I struggle in many ways, but I consider this to be the main one, based on how often I find myself feeling this way and how very upset I become over it.
I want this follow-up to be shorter. That said, if any of you are going "WOW!" over me being that upset over something like this, just consider: how about people who become so upset at their team losing a game in a sporting event? Just like the weather, it's something you can't control, and it's also nowhere near as important as things such as your sister dying of leukemia or thousands dying in Haiti due to an earthquake, yet people get that worked up about it. They spend tons of money on the events and scream bloody murder and vile curse words when the other team's player does something they don't like or the referee makes a call they don't agree with.
If you really think about it, they root for a particular team for years based solely on that they're the Cleveland Cavaliers, Florida Gators or whatever, regardless of the personalities involved and despite that they don't know them from Adam. Dallas Cowboys fans talked so negatively about Terrell Owens when he was playing for other teams, once he was playing for their team all of a sudden they liked him. If you really break it down, that makes no logical sense at all and is really no different than what I'm doing.
Simply enough--the way such people are about that, such is how I am about the weather. To me, it's the same thing, just a different thing that it's being applied to.
It's also that besides not liking such roller-coaster and bipolar weather, I see God as being the one who is the reason for it. If I am right about what I've heard, He is sovereign, and thus all such things that are occurring are doing so because He either specifically ordered it or didn't interfere when natural events of our earth caused them to, and by not interfering He is pretty much endorsing it. Just as other people struggle with why would God allow their father to die at a young age and such things, I struggle understanding this, even as in my sane moments (which are 98% of the time) I realize they aren't THAT important.
I want to get past this, yet at the same time I have a hard time letting go of my expectations of normalcy vs roller-coaster.
DewDropInn I really appreciate your advice--as you said, He receives blame for other things as it is, why not the weather. I don't mind doing those things it's just that no one would take me seriously, I think, they can't seem to get past how crazy that sounds. That's why I made the analogy with sports--those same people would react the exact same way at a sporting event, yet call me crazy for applying their very practices but just simply applying them to something ELSE one also can't control. If I can find one who would actually take me seriously, I'd be glad to talk to someone.
PastorAl In all honesty, the only response I can give, and that's on a GOOD day, is "I know you're God and I love you, but seriously, what are you doing? And WHY are you doing it?" On other days I honestly want to tell Him "you're mental, stop smoking crack fool, wake up and get your head out of your gas." I'm striving to at least do it the first way and not the horrible last way. Other half-decent responses I can muster are along the lines of "I know you're God and I really don't want to be in the wrong and be blasphemous, but I just don't agree with this and I really think I am entitled to an explanation as to WHY you do it."
I posted here because I am really trying to be a Christian type of person. I struggle in many ways, but I consider this to be the main one, based on how often I find myself feeling this way and how very upset I become over it.
I want this follow-up to be shorter. That said, if any of you are going "WOW!" over me being that upset over something like this, just consider: how about people who become so upset at their team losing a game in a sporting event? Just like the weather, it's something you can't control, and it's also nowhere near as important as things such as your sister dying of leukemia or thousands dying in Haiti due to an earthquake, yet people get that worked up about it. They spend tons of money on the events and scream bloody murder and vile curse words when the other team's player does something they don't like or the referee makes a call they don't agree with.
If you really think about it, they root for a particular team for years based solely on that they're the Cleveland Cavaliers, Florida Gators or whatever, regardless of the personalities involved and despite that they don't know them from Adam. Dallas Cowboys fans talked so negatively about Terrell Owens when he was playing for other teams, once he was playing for their team all of a sudden they liked him. If you really break it down, that makes no logical sense at all and is really no different than what I'm doing.
Simply enough--the way such people are about that, such is how I am about the weather. To me, it's the same thing, just a different thing that it's being applied to.
It's also that besides not liking such roller-coaster and bipolar weather, I see God as being the one who is the reason for it. If I am right about what I've heard, He is sovereign, and thus all such things that are occurring are doing so because He either specifically ordered it or didn't interfere when natural events of our earth caused them to, and by not interfering He is pretty much endorsing it. Just as other people struggle with why would God allow their father to die at a young age and such things, I struggle understanding this, even as in my sane moments (which are 98% of the time) I realize they aren't THAT important.
I want to get past this, yet at the same time I have a hard time letting go of my expectations of normalcy vs roller-coaster.
You have identified the problem. You are human and have emotions. Some people can't stand, hot, some cold, some humid, some dry, some hilly, some flat, etc. We are all different people. The key is to focus on the good and ignore as much as possible the bad. Why? Because there is no perfect place, team, girl, boy, etc. Gotta live with what is, not what we want.
Now God is not making bad (or good weather) he is simply allowing it, to show how foolish man is to think he can live any other way than that directed by God. For some 6000 years since Adam we have seen he is right and man .... was wrong, dead wrong.
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