The picture attached to this post is representative of the weather yesterday afternoon. Wind speeds are 40 km gusting to 60 km. The temperature is -20 degrees C. (-18 degrees C. is 0 F.) with wind a chill temperature of -35 degrees C. Since this has been going on for a couple of days now, the car that was towed to the garage remains there and the snow drifts continue to grow in our driveway. To snow blow out the drifts only to have them fill in, seems like a futile waste of time in these temperatures. So, staying inside where it is warmer, though with the wind the temperature has dropped several degrees in the last hour in the office. It is now below 66 F. in the office. The furnace has a challenge in keeping this room warm when the winds blow from a specific direction.
Why am I writing about the weather? Maybe it is because when I was young, I wanted to be a meteorologist and I still have a fascination with weather more than fifty years later. Through the training I received from my mentor, Joel Bauer, I came to the realization the “whys” for what I wanted to do from the time I was five years old through my final years of high school were exactly the same as they have been for the last fifty years. My underlying intentions, out of which my thoughts, beliefs, words and actions came, have always been about seeking to help people and make each day a good day despite what may be happening in the environment around them.
In the beginning of shifting my attention to the spiritual realm, I thought my intentions were different, more heavenly oriented. I have since learned, our spiritual life and connections to God are far more connected to what happens here on earth than what happens in the eternal heavenly realms. My wife’s “JOY” blog articles (you can find them on Face Book under Maxine R McLellan) are a constant reminder of the value of looking for JOY in whatever the circumstances you may be facing in daily living. This includes dealing with the poor visibility caused by strong winds and blowing snow.
While I am not able to be physically present with my friends at the Global Information Network Family Reunion Event in the Dominican Republic this week, I can energetically connect with them as they learn and grow in the process of becoming a better version of themselves. Blessings from the cold north to the warmth of your hearts.
In this moment of time I can choose to look out the office window and see a miserable, frigidly cold winter day and think about what I am missing by being here, or I can look out the window and see the snow and remind myself of Isaiah 1:18, “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says Yahweh. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’” Or how about Psalm 51:7, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” Your focus is what you see, experience and live.
