Seeing what is not

This morning's meditation is on what is not happening today-drought.

While taking my morning constitution under an umbrella I noted to myself that it is raining in Glenside. The topic of conversation in my fair city this day may be the economy, or the Trayvon Martin case, or the Phillies' lousy lead pitching, but they are not talking about drought.

This observation is, from one perspective, about as interesting as a conversation about planes that didn't crash last week. But I refuse to be caught not praising God for the regularity of His care. This morning's gentle drizzle is part of His quiet, under-the-radar blessings that need to be acknowledged and thanked for. Today's weather is (let me be plain) a divine witness:

"Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons …" (Acts 14:17).

That is to say, there is nothing automatic about the fact that it is raining outside in Glenside today. Science may wax authoritative all it wants about meteorological systems, but when they use scientific formulas to speak of weather, all they are really doing is describing God's faithfulness. The fact is that this faithfulness of God is not remote and deistic, but direct and hands-on:

"You cause the grass to grow for the livestock" (Psalm 104:14).

"For he … sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45).

God has ordained that it is raining in Glenside today for reasons that are known to Him-and to be trusted by me. If there happens to be a drought in your town right now, that too is personally ordained for purposes known to Him and to be trusted by you. For you see that the other side of the coin is that, just as we acknowledge His love in the obvious blessings, we must acknowledge it in blessings that are not so obvious at the moment.

But when obviously bad things are not happening, I want to be in the habit of thanking God for that. My hunch is that this will foster in me a new way of seeing life in general, in which it will become increasingly apparent that God's mercies and kindnesses far outnumber whatever sad circumstances I have tended to grumble about.