Coffee Stains: Rainy Days and Mondays
Author: David PorterWhen a fellow tallies up his assets and liabilities, he shouldn’t forget to factor in how many days in his life he’s had when the weather was like it was last Thursday, a week ago.
I love it when it’s just a hair cool and the wind is blowing in an emotional way that prophesies the coming of Fall. The sun shone from a blue sky littered with hurrying clouds that soothed rather than threatened to pour on us as they have so often lately.
We had a guest at the time and I had taken his dog out for a pull, he took me out and pulled me along by his leash. Our walk was punctuated by important times of snuffing the ground and bushes to see what interesting animal had passed (It was the dog smelling the bushes, not me, in case you were wondering. Just wanted to be clear).
But the day itself moved me. Days like that go way down inside. They are what I dream about when I read of great adventures and far-off lands. Most people don’t know it but you can accumulate those days, store them up inside you.
They help you hold the course when one nasty day follows another later on. Kind of like the old Carpenter’s song: ‘Talkin’ to myself and feelin’ old. Sometimes I’d like to quit. Nothing ever seems to fit. Hangin’ around. Nothing to do but frown. Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.” (‘Rainy Days And Mondays,’ Words and Music by: Paul Williams & Roger Nichols)
You store up days like Thursday so that you can draw on them when the rainy days and Mondays impose themselves ceaselessly on you.
At least that’s what I think.
That’s the way it is in your spiritual life too. I talked to a young Christian recently who was going through a dry spell. It worried him. We all have them, though. The Lord feels so far away and you’re going through battles and it just doesn’t feel the way you want it too. And it seems you’re falling on your face with discouraging regularity.
I think God gives us times of refreshing to renew us for a given moment, but there are also times when we let these blessings go down deep in us to build up a storehouse in our hearts. Then when it seems like Monday comes seven days a week and the sun can’t break through that heavy mass of drizzle clouds, we have something to draw from. Spiritual Thursdays.
How does it work? Listen to this:
‘A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.’ (Matt. 12: 35).
Notice two things, there is a treasure in each of us and we can dig into it — ‘brings forth.’
We can add to our treasure by tanking up on ‘spiritual Thursdays.’ So ” –Take note when the Lord does something special for you–when He speaks something especially for you or He answers a prayer in a way that reminds you of how much He loves you. Pull it out and think about it when the rain tries to spoil everything outside.
–Don’t take it lightly when you receive a powerful spiritual touch. Elijah functioned 40 days on the bread and water that the Lord gave him. God grants those special times of blessing for a reason. Store it up. Don’t let it be like a downpour which runs off hardened ground. You can draw on that strength for a long time.
–Read His Word with a mission. Dig in so that you can get something to make you strong and add to your treasure trove. Don’t just pray and study God’s Word to win brownie points in heaven, (“Hey Lord, did you see that? I read my Bible today!“), or in order to shout ‘Amen!’ when the preacher insists, ‘A Christian ought to read his Bible and pray!’ –Learn the lessons of life through the filter of God’s eyes (we learn how God sees the world by absorbing His word). As Paul Billheimer says, ‘Don’t waste your sorrows.’ Be a person who thinks and reflects. “What was that experience all about? Why did God allow it? Or did He?) When you see something that’s true, grab it and put it in your storehouse.
You’ll need it one day.