Annoying!

Not long ago I was reading an article about a study of the world’s most annoying sound. The article talked about many of the sounds that were studied but one came up clearly on top. It wasn't the sound of the sirens of emergency vehicles or the sound of a chain saw. It wasn’t the sound of someone learning to play the violin or of nails on a blackboard. No. The world’s most annoying sound? Whining! People from different cultures were given math problems to solve at the sound of whining and the stress was such that they had difficulty solving simple math problems.

As I read the article I couldn’t help but agree. Anyone who is a parent knows how difficult it is to deal with a whining child. It can drive us crazy! We patiently, and not so patiently at times, encourage our children to use their words and normal voices because it can be very distressing to hear the whining that comes out of these little people.

I realized though that whining is not just a child’s thing. Adults can whine too! And worse of all, as difficult as it is to admit it, sometimes I whine! Just recently I caught myself whining...to God! I couldn’t believe it! He’s been blessing me in incredible ways. I just posted about His incredible blessings to me these past few months, and I still found something to whine about. And my motive for whining? Rain!

That’s right, rain! It has been an incredibly wet summer here in the far north and the beautiful and hot sunny days of May and June are but a vague memory in my mind. All I can remember is that it has rained pretty much every day for the last several weeks with a few exceptions here and there, not enough to make an impression. So I have been complaining. I complain about it to pretty much everyone around me. And I look outside and complain to God and beg Him to let me see the sun. And every morning that I open a window and see the rain fall, I slouch my shoulders depressed and complain again to God that winter is coming and we didn’t even have a proper summer.

But children are a blessing from the Lord in more ways than we can imagine. Earlier this week my son opened the curtains of the window in his room and realizing that it was raining yet again, complained about it just the way I’ve been doing. It caught me off guard as I saw myself in him, and I suddenly realized that I needed to be more positive about it. Last night, as I was sitting outside under the covered porch listening to the rain fall, I asked God to forgive all my complaining about the rain and I asked Him to forgive me for inflicting on Him the world’s most annoying sound. I told Him how beautiful the rain was and how wonderful it was to fall asleep to the sound of the rain on the roof of the house. I noticed how fresh nature was all wet and how the little birds still filled the air with their songs. It was indeed beautiful. And I praised God that because of the rain we hadn’t had that many forest fires which meant no smoke up in the air. I can breathe nice, fresh air.

This morning as my son commented again on the weather I helped him see how beautiful it actually was. I directed his eyes to the fog that played between the trees and encouraged him to take in a deep breath of the fresh morning air. And we both thanked our Heavenly Father for the beautiful weather.

I know God smiled at this child of His who still has so much to learn and ended up giving us a gorgeous sunny day. We had a wonderful time playing outside and working on the yard.

And now as the day is over, I get to fall asleep to the sound of the gentle rain falling on the roof. My Heavenly Father is Amazing...

Photo by William Kasper

“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
 I Tess. 5:18

“So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.”
 I Tim. 6:8


“Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.”
Philippians 4:11