Playing in the Rain

It was long rumored that Troy Aikman had difficulty throwing a wet football, subsequently, his teams struggled in rainy games. Many sports experience rain delays or cancellations due to rain. One can play golf in the rain, but it can be very difficult to adjust your shot, your grip, and your club selection while it is raining. Let’s face it, rain distracts us from the task at hand and hampers our ability to perform athletically.

I like to analogize the effects of rain in sports to those distractions of life that make it feel like it is raining. Marital strife, financial burdens, problems to deal with in your children’s lives, tragedy, and interpersonal conflict are just a few of those things that make it feel like it is raining. Maybe you know the feeling…heavy, burdened, can’t concentrate. You are slogging around in the mire of the pressures of life.

I have a hard time playing in the rain and pushing past life’s distractions. It can cost me productivity at work and quality time at home. I tend to long for the clouds to clear, however, I struggle to adjust and push forward in spite of the rain. Call it weakness, lack of focus, maybe even being a baby, but sometimes I just get stuck in the mud and cannot pull through.

In athletics, we have a built in cure for the rain—a coach that pushes us to perform and motivates us to focus regardless of the distractions. In life, that can take the form of a boss, a friend, a spouse, or a counselor. We lean on another in sports to push us, and in life we can do the same thing. I believe it is important to take advantage of the aid offered by others when you are getting pelted by the rain. Reach out, don’t recede. Find a different perspective, one that sees through the rain and lays out a path that moves you to clear skies.

Spiritually, we always have help in troubled times. We have the Holy Spirit to comfort us, a God that hears us, and a God that is active in our lives to guide us. He is quick to lighten our loads and provide a vision of comfort and peace when all we can see is the rain. Just like a coach who puts forth his vision in the rain that allows us to borrow his perspective, God provides a vision and perspective that we can hang on to while the rain falls.

I want to encourage you find assistance when it is raining in your life, to borrow perspective, strength, or focus, and the clouds will clear sooner than you expect.

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

Psalm 46:1 (NLT)