Wait awhile weather

Western Australian weather is wonderful. Most of the time. 

Last weekend we ventured south to the picturesque town of Yallingup. Walking a small section of the Cape to Cape Track in late May, in brilliant autumn sunshine at about 24 degrees is sublime. Strolling along the beach, wading through lapping waves, enjoying the clear air. Life doesn’t get much better.

By late afternoon weather reports are warning that the worst storm in a decade will hit the entire west coast of Australia within hours. A tropical cyclone bearing down from the north is expected to collide with a cold front developing from the south west. We hastily pack up and head home. Sure enough the storm arrives with wind gusts of over 100km, heavy rain, a huge swell and destructive high tides.  

It’s hard to imagine such contrasting weather in such a short period of time. But WA weather is not unique. Weather is changeable. With the advent of meteorology weather may be more predictable, but it is never tame. We might simplistically describe weather as good or bad, pleasant or challenging, convenient or inconvenient, but it’s not that simple. It has purpose. Both sunshine and rain sustain life. It sometimes looks random and out of control, but this world is an extraordinary, well-balanced, life-maintaining environment.

Weather is a vivid metaphor for life. Life too is changeable. It comes with good and bad. Clear skies and clouds. Depressions. Wind gusts that destroy. Drought that leaves us parched. Destructive bushfires where only the toughest survive. High tides that rip the sand from beneath our feet. And then sunshine again, appreciated all the more after the storm abates.

As someone wisely quipped:

Weather is a great metaphor for life — sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, and there’s nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella or choose to dance in the rain!

Sometimes we just need to lockdown and wait the storm out. We can then slowly emerge, deal with the damage, rebuild the paths and hope for sunshine ahead…while accepting that there may still be a storm or two further down the track.  

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us…

Psalm 67:1