It hasn’t always felt like summer this year.  We have had a cold June and not as many days of sunshine as we expect. And others are having heatwaves.

Weather is one of the ways we relate most to our planet, something it is hard to avoid.  It can be a challenge not to live in expectations but to embrace what each day brings.

Packets of weather

The summer has packets of weather that it deals out each day, packets of rain and sun, packets of fluffy white or thickening grey cloud, packets of wind.  It is like a conductor in an orchestra – now percussion, now strings, now brass.  We are the choir, accompanying it all with our umbrellas or sunscreen, our rushing or lingering, our moaning or rejoicing.  Even the weather forecasters don’t know which packet will arrive when and where, can only predict ‘sunshine and showers’.  We are at its mercy and must keep our eye on the sky.

How wonderful in the twenty-first century to have something we can’t control, where we are not in charge and must learn to notice, to accommodate, to be flexible.  Weather affects us all, even if shut up inside it determines the clothes we wear, the heating we add or remove, the lights we use.

Weather can be a reminder of the Spirit filling our world, beyond our prediction or control, offering challenge and nurture, something we can ignore but not avoid.  We can complain and put up our barriers or we can enjoy the rich, moving life force that fills each day.