Into the Wind
17/01/12 04:44
The weather outside is typical for this time of year. It is down to zero and there is a dusting of snow. The snow was light and powdery and fell little by little throughout the day yesterday. It hasn’t however, been a typical winter. Some people are calling 2011-12 the year that winter forgot. Across the United States, December and the beginning of January have brought unseasonably mild temperatures. We were enjoying temperatures in the sixties last week – even close to 70 some days. Even in Fargo, North Dakota, a place that we like to use as the example of the coldest place in the region, was having temperatures in the mid-fifties last week.
Warm weather has been the news across Europe as well. And warm weather means less snow. Of course there are places where this is not happening. The news from Alaska has had lots of information about record snowfalls.
But here the winter has been so mild that we really shiver when it gets cold. Yesterday I headed out to run some errands and found myself facing into the wind for a block or so of walking with a jacket that was too light for spending much time outside. Now, I have lived in places where winter comes all of my life, so I have a heavy parka with a good hood and warm gloves in my pickup. I could have gone back for it, but in other years walking a block into the wind wouldn’t have bothered me by mid-January. It is just the fact that we have had so many warm days in the past month that makes it feel so cold to me right now.
I grew up in windy country. And we had some winters. I own clothing that is good enough to walk a mile in -20 weather with the wind blowing. I usually don’t wear that clothing, but I’ve got it in the pickup when I need it. And I have the sense to know better than to take off walking if I’m out in really cold weather.
My father believed that there was no harm in getting a little bit cold. He used to say that “cold is mostly in your head.” That made no sense to me when where I felt the cold was in my toes and the tips of my fingers and my ears. As an adult I know that feeling cold is in part due to attitude. And I know that getting cold isn’t the worst thing that can happen. I’m not advocating frostbite, but a little wind in the face and a little tingle in the toes or fingers doesn’t really do any harm.
What I do know is that my father taught me to walk into the wind and keep going. He taught me that when we went hunting. He taught me that when we had animals that needed to be fed or just checked. He taught me that in a symbolic sense as well as in a literal sense.
Life is going to throw each of us some storms. Many of those storms are not of our own choosing or even the result of our own actions. Sometimes in this life you have to experience a little cold and a little resistance. Sometimes you have to walk at night as well as day. There are days when you have to do things that you don’t want to do. Sometimes you have to be willing to experience a little pain.
When that happens, you turn your face into the wind and keep going.
The Lakota word is Kahuá – Keep On. Sometimes that is all you can do, just keep on.
I guess that is one of the things my father taught me: “Don’t give up.” It has proven to be sage advice.
I don’t know exactly why I thought that it would get easier when I got older, but I have long had that opinion. When I was a kid walking alongside my dad, I thought that it would be easier when I got taller and my legs got longer. When I was a teenager, I thought that it would get easier when I became an adult and got out on my own. When I was a student, I thought it would get easier when I graduated. When I was a novice in my first parish, I thought it would get easier when I became pastor of a larger church. When our children were tiny I thought it would get easier when they started to sleep all the way through the night. When they were teens, I thought it would get easier when they were out on their own. I’ve even been known to think, from time to time these days, that when I retire it will get easier.
I know better. I know that is faulty thinking.
The truth is that I wasn’t put on this earth for a life of ease. The truth is that having it easy wouldn’t be what I wanted anyway.
I like walking into the wind. I was born to keep on going. And I know that when the day comes that I can’t keep on it will be a sad day.
A little pain reminds you that you are still alive. A little resistance reminds you that you have strength left.
I didn’t know that a person could miss the wind until I moved to Boise, Idaho. I had never lived where the wind doesn’t blow before. When the wind does blow, it doesn’t blow hard. 25 miles per hour will take branches off of the trees there because they aren’t used to it. I could lie in bed at night, especially in the summer with the windows open, and the silence was so deep I couldn’t sleep. Not even a leaf on the bushes outside the window would twitch. Dead calm will make you miss the wind. After a decade in that place I was relieved to get back to a place where the wind blows.
So I was grateful yesterday to walk in the wind and feel the cold. I hope today is like that too. I haven’t had too much winter yet. When I go out and do a little bit of work and come in with my cheeks tingling and my glasses fogged I know that I am alive. And if I meet resistance somewhere else in my day I know that I have the strength to keep on.
Warm weather has been the news across Europe as well. And warm weather means less snow. Of course there are places where this is not happening. The news from Alaska has had lots of information about record snowfalls.
But here the winter has been so mild that we really shiver when it gets cold. Yesterday I headed out to run some errands and found myself facing into the wind for a block or so of walking with a jacket that was too light for spending much time outside. Now, I have lived in places where winter comes all of my life, so I have a heavy parka with a good hood and warm gloves in my pickup. I could have gone back for it, but in other years walking a block into the wind wouldn’t have bothered me by mid-January. It is just the fact that we have had so many warm days in the past month that makes it feel so cold to me right now.
I grew up in windy country. And we had some winters. I own clothing that is good enough to walk a mile in -20 weather with the wind blowing. I usually don’t wear that clothing, but I’ve got it in the pickup when I need it. And I have the sense to know better than to take off walking if I’m out in really cold weather.
My father believed that there was no harm in getting a little bit cold. He used to say that “cold is mostly in your head.” That made no sense to me when where I felt the cold was in my toes and the tips of my fingers and my ears. As an adult I know that feeling cold is in part due to attitude. And I know that getting cold isn’t the worst thing that can happen. I’m not advocating frostbite, but a little wind in the face and a little tingle in the toes or fingers doesn’t really do any harm.
What I do know is that my father taught me to walk into the wind and keep going. He taught me that when we went hunting. He taught me that when we had animals that needed to be fed or just checked. He taught me that in a symbolic sense as well as in a literal sense.
Life is going to throw each of us some storms. Many of those storms are not of our own choosing or even the result of our own actions. Sometimes in this life you have to experience a little cold and a little resistance. Sometimes you have to walk at night as well as day. There are days when you have to do things that you don’t want to do. Sometimes you have to be willing to experience a little pain.
When that happens, you turn your face into the wind and keep going.
The Lakota word is Kahuá – Keep On. Sometimes that is all you can do, just keep on.
I guess that is one of the things my father taught me: “Don’t give up.” It has proven to be sage advice.
I don’t know exactly why I thought that it would get easier when I got older, but I have long had that opinion. When I was a kid walking alongside my dad, I thought that it would be easier when I got taller and my legs got longer. When I was a teenager, I thought that it would get easier when I became an adult and got out on my own. When I was a student, I thought it would get easier when I graduated. When I was a novice in my first parish, I thought it would get easier when I became pastor of a larger church. When our children were tiny I thought it would get easier when they started to sleep all the way through the night. When they were teens, I thought it would get easier when they were out on their own. I’ve even been known to think, from time to time these days, that when I retire it will get easier.
I know better. I know that is faulty thinking.
The truth is that I wasn’t put on this earth for a life of ease. The truth is that having it easy wouldn’t be what I wanted anyway.
I like walking into the wind. I was born to keep on going. And I know that when the day comes that I can’t keep on it will be a sad day.
A little pain reminds you that you are still alive. A little resistance reminds you that you have strength left.
I didn’t know that a person could miss the wind until I moved to Boise, Idaho. I had never lived where the wind doesn’t blow before. When the wind does blow, it doesn’t blow hard. 25 miles per hour will take branches off of the trees there because they aren’t used to it. I could lie in bed at night, especially in the summer with the windows open, and the silence was so deep I couldn’t sleep. Not even a leaf on the bushes outside the window would twitch. Dead calm will make you miss the wind. After a decade in that place I was relieved to get back to a place where the wind blows.
So I was grateful yesterday to walk in the wind and feel the cold. I hope today is like that too. I haven’t had too much winter yet. When I go out and do a little bit of work and come in with my cheeks tingling and my glasses fogged I know that I am alive. And if I meet resistance somewhere else in my day I know that I have the strength to keep on.