Learning to Dance -- Whatever the Weather

Within 12 hours our temperature dropped 30 degrees. I was still surprised yesterday when I left my warm garage wearing a light jacket and when I exited my car a few minutes later, I shouted “Holy Tundra!” It felt like I walked into a freezer blowing icy winds. Burrrr! I received a text message from an Oklahoma friend who told me they were in a polar vortex! I was impressed with those words – after all, my friend is highly intelligent, but I, not having heard those words and neither am I highly intelligent, decided to look it up.

I found out that when the winter temperature abruptly plunges to a brutally cold low and you're shivering despite wearing thermal underwear and a down parka, it probably doesn't help much to hear the TV meteorologist cheerfully explain that the cause of your misery is a distortion of something called the polar vortex. The term got another workout when some of the coldest temps in a generation hit the U.S. recently. Some 90 million Americans experienced temps of below zero F (-18 C). The polar vortex is an atmospheric phenomenon of strong winds surrounding an extremely cold pocket of Arctic air that can travel far south, causing the temperature to plunge in places accustomed to having mild winters. That’s us, here in the South, right now! It’s being called Winter Storm Lucian and is responsible for ice-covered highways, sleet and snow, many vehicle accidents, thousands without electricity and several deaths.

We lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada for seven years, so we know what it is to plug your car into a heater at night, wearing boots and a fur coat as a necessity (not a fashion statement) and enjoying piles of snow until April. Winnipeg is one of the five coldest cities (below -21 C to -50C) in the world, according to AccuWeather. Despite the cold, people around the city embrace the chilly conditions by getting outside. Winnipeggers own winter. Perhaps Winnipeg received the nickname “Winterpeg” for the ability to winterize summer activities. The city hosts canoe and bike races in the snow. When their rivers freeze over, they make the longest skating trail in the country and gussy it up with art and warming huts along the way. And making the most of the situation, the Festival Du Voyageur turns the snow into impressive sculptures. The two-week festival makes some of the coldest weeks of the year, some of the most fun ones.

The weather – wherever we live and play – is subject to change daily. There will be extreme peaks of cold and heat and we can choose to sit out those times or we can celebrate and find the fun in those extremes. And in the same manner, when the winter and summer storms of life come, we can hunker down and just wait for them to pass. After all, who wants to go outside when it’s lightning and thundering and the winds are blowing 90 miles an hour? Or below freezing and risk getting frostbite? In the winter – we groan about the cold, and in the summer we whine about the heat. Don’t you love it when you see kids, completely CARE-FREE, bundling up for winter fun, building snowmen, sledding, ice skating, or running out, dancing and splashing in the rain? And, don’t you love it when little kids play in the summer – not paying any attention to the heat – so much so, that we have to remind them to put on sunscreen?

I’ve figured it out. Life isn’t about being concerned and worried about the storms, waiting for the storms to pass, or the winter or summer to pass – or STUFF that comes our way to pass. It’s about embracing the journey and learning how to dance whatever season, or whatever the weather might be, and even while going through the storms of life. I’ve been through some real snowstorms and downpours in my life, and I’m here to tell you I survived and, in fact, this gal has become quite the accomplished “weather dancer”. I know how to bend, and not break; I know how to do the “quick step” and I know how to “slow dance”, and, best of all, I’ve learned to depend on my Dance Partner, and following His “lead”. And in case you’re wondering who my Dance Partner is ----- He’s the ONE Who calms the storms and He’s the one Who created the dance!!

Matthew 7:25 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on THE ROCK.”