from the opposite side of things

"Peter tells, for example, of driving in his convertible with (Albert) Einstein when it suddenly started to rain. Einstein pulled off his hat and put it under his coat. When Peter looked quizziccal, Einstein explained: 'You see, my hair has withstood water many times before, but I don't know how many times my hat can.'" (excerpt from page 435 of Walter Isaacson's book "Einstein - His Life and Universe")

how many times have we trusted in the hat and not the hair? the moment it rains we dive for our cars, umbrellas, jackets or hats to protect our bodies from the cold wet torrents. yet, we also take showers and baths without a second thought about our bodies getting wet. when we're trapped on a street corner with no hat or umbrella in a thunderstorm, we quickly forget the thousands of baths we've taken where the same water has not harmed us at all. how does this apply to me, you ask? let me explain.

as soon as i read this, einstein's quote sparked a revelation in the way i have been thinking. am i seeing from the wrong side of things? most of the time, when finances flatten my wallet or something out of my control rears its ugly head, my first action is to begin to worry or try to figure out how to instantly solve the problem. it's my equivalent of putting on a hat in a torrential downpour. my hair will still get wet. what if, instead, i was to say when rain falls in my life: (as einstein saw it) "you see, my life has withstood many trials because of God's grace, but i don't know many times my worry can." its time to stash that hat under your coat for good. you can withstand the rain.

just like forgetting you survived that cleansing and refreshing shower you took this morning when you're running slapdashedly to your car smothered in an afternoon rainstorm; it becomes just as easy to forget every trial and every problem you have survived before when you are in the middle of the current storm in your life. you try to put your hat on, you put up an umbrella but somehow that that storm still gets to you. how worthwhile was putting that hat on? rain and sun wear hats out, but you will always have your hair. after all, it was meant to survive all that in the first place. 

"...and the heavy rain falls, the swollen torrents come, and the winds blow and beat against the house; yet it does not fall, for its foundation is on rock." (matthew 7:25 wnt)  imagine having a house built on a rock, then, as a hurricane slides into the coast, running outside and erecting a large tent over said house. 

einstein, in a convertible with the top down and rain approaching, removed his hat because he saw from the opposite side of things. he must have had a few hats in his life, and the one stashed under his coat must have replaced another one at one time. on the other hand he had had his hair all his life. he knew which would survive the rain and wind better. 

maybe it is time to remember that, with God, our lives will always survive what ever falls around us, instead of throwing worry over our heads, trying to protect in our own futile way what does not even need that kind of protection.