Now that's love and thoughts on adversity

Dan asked me what I wanted for my birthday. The only thing I could think of was another pair of jeans that fit right. Last year I bought a pair for my birthday, and they were worth every penny. So, after work he met me at the mall and spent an hour trying to analyze the fit of various pairs of jeans.  He is not nearly as brutally honest as a girlfriend would be.  His answer to most was "those look good - they look the same as the last ones." But, he was very patient and provided moral support for the not-fun experience of trying on 60 pairs of pants to find the pair that fit correctly. Success!


Totally unrelated . . . today Joseph asked me this. . . .

"Why does Heavenly Father make it storm when you are going to have a picnic?  Doesn't He want us to have a picnic?  Picnics are good things to do."

When in Utah, we drove up Millcreek Canyon with my parents for a picnic.  No sooner had we eaten our KFC than it started to pour rain. This dispelled any hope we had for playing in the stream or relaxing in the woods.  So his five-year-old mind has been mulling this over.  He knows that Heavenly Father causes the rain.  He knows that spending time with family while eating a picnic is good.  So, why would He allow rain to ruin a perfectly good, uplifting time?

I tried to explain it like this: "Maybe He wants to see how we will handle it when it rains.  Will we complain and make a fuss, or will we be happy and just find something else to do?"

He thought about it and then muttered, "yes, we can be happy and find something else to do, but I still don't know why it can't just be sunny."

Yes, why indeed. I look around me and see so many challenging life situations which spoil a perfectly good "picnic."  It seems like the plan ought to be for everything to go smoothly and everyone to be happy - wouldn't our Father in Heaven want this?  Maybe not.  Maybe the plan is to see how we will handle it when it rains.  Maybe that was the plan all along.