Beyond the Clouds and the Storm

So, here I am sitting on a river cruise along the Murray River in the middle of January. It is 24 degrees, partly cloudy, and on the water, it is windy, cold, and did I mention windy? It is day four of a celebration holiday with my extended family for the sixtieth wedding anniversary of my in-laws. My attitude is in dire need of a readjustment, but I am tired after a broken night’s sleep, it’s cold and windy, and I am going to be on this river cruise for five hours! …

The thing with attitudes, is that they stem from the direction we face our feet and fix our eyes. If we look at the world, at our life, our days, our situations, from a negative perspective, our attitude will be negative, our outlook will be negative, and our day will be negative. The other thing with letting our feet and our eyes get redirected is that we end up missing out on amazing things, experiences we may never have the opportunity to experience again, and blessings that we don’t get to realise are happening before us.

By shifting the way we are framing what is in front of us, our attitude gets a makeover and our view of what is in front of us shifts. On this day, I was on a river cruise that I had been gifted to participate in, with lunch included, and I was not enjoying myself. Sometimes, there can be blue skies all around us, but we are looking through our circumstances, through the clouds and the storms of our upsets, grievances, challenges, and struggles. There is no bright spot in our day, in our life, in our circumstances when the storm is all we see. In these times, instead of focusing on what we are going through, the challenge is to seek guidance from the Lord, asking what it is that we have to change, adjust, have revealed to us, and what action we have to take. There is always something for us to do in the middle of negative circumstances. For we when we seek the Lord’s guidance and counsel then do what we are being prompted to do, we are feeding our fight of faith, and in feeding our fight of faith, we are fighting our battle in a positive way that will change not only our attitudes, but will impact the outcome of whatever circumstance we are facing.

So back to my river cruise… After I had chatted with God about my lousy attitude and outlook on this gift that was before me, Even though the wind was still blowing, and the hours still stretched before me, I began to enjoy the cruise. Once I begun to enjoy it, there along the boat, appeared dolphins. These group of dolphins rode the waves beside us and in front of the whole way up and back through the river journey. By the end of our journey, the two dolphins had grown to five and they were leaping out of the water together in playful competition. It was amazing to watch. I was blessed with an experience I may not have appreciated through my negative outlook, yet, through the eyes of gratefulness, thankfulness, and appreciation for the creation of God’s beautiful creatures, my day turned out to be very enjoyable and full of reminders of God. If you are looking at life through the darkness of storm clouds right now, seek to know your role in how your circumstances play out. You always have a role, a something that you need to do to move forward, through your situation. Be thankful, grateful, and open to the blessings that are before you now. Praise God through the storm and refocus your feet and eyes to look beyond the clouds and the storms in your life today.

For Discussion:

• What does your life look today?

• Are there attitudes you are letting guide the direction of your feet today?

• When have you experienced a change of attitude that resulted in blessings you would never have experienced without your change of attitude

• What words of encouragement do you have for others in a similar situation?

• What ways can you ensure that your eyes are looking beyond the clouds and the storm?

Head over to our discussion page to discuss further

Take Home:

Create a list of bad attitudes and missed opportunities as you go through the week. Examine them and see if the Lord is wanting you to see beyond the clouds.

Lastly:

Above all else guard your heart,

For it is the wellspring of life.

Proverbs 4:23

Mould me, shape me, until I think like you Lord.

Romans 12:2

Further Reading:

Proverbs 4:23

Romans 12:2

1 Corinthians 2:5

Proverbs 31:25