It's cold outside! At least it feels that way to me.
Even though I grew up in Michigan and remember weekends in which the
temperature was never above zero, 50 degrees still feels cold to me.
I read an article recently about the way we perceive cold. Our perception of cold is based on our expectations and our comparison to recent temperatures. Fifty degrees feels cold to me because it was 80 degrees two days ago. But if I were coming from anywhere else in the country that has been dealing with ice and snow and literally freezing temperatures, 50 degrees would seem quite warm. The actual temperature is the same; it's our perception of it that changes.
The same is true when the "cold winds of life" blow our way. If life has been going well, we can be thrown when trouble comes. If we subconsciously expect life to go smoothly, that makes the hard times more difficult. We can sometimes feel betrayed by God—not because he promised smooth sailing (He didn't), but because we weren't expecting things to get rough. I'm not saying we should pessimistically walk around expecting problems. Rather, we can know that the winds will blow and the temperature will fluctuate, but we can always be confident of God's presence and praise him for being with us, regardless of the weather.
I read an article recently about the way we perceive cold. Our perception of cold is based on our expectations and our comparison to recent temperatures. Fifty degrees feels cold to me because it was 80 degrees two days ago. But if I were coming from anywhere else in the country that has been dealing with ice and snow and literally freezing temperatures, 50 degrees would seem quite warm. The actual temperature is the same; it's our perception of it that changes.
The same is true when the "cold winds of life" blow our way. If life has been going well, we can be thrown when trouble comes. If we subconsciously expect life to go smoothly, that makes the hard times more difficult. We can sometimes feel betrayed by God—not because he promised smooth sailing (He didn't), but because we weren't expecting things to get rough. I'm not saying we should pessimistically walk around expecting problems. Rather, we can know that the winds will blow and the temperature will fluctuate, but we can always be confident of God's presence and praise him for being with us, regardless of the weather.
Chad Hess
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