Facing the wind
04/04/22 01:37
Our house is well-insulated with good windows and doors, but I can hear the winds rattling outside. For much of my life I have lived in places where the wind blows and the sound of the winds outside don’t bother me. My sister’s dog, who is visiting us, seems to be unsettled by the winds, however. He is awake and wandering about the house in the middle of the night, something that he doesn’t usually do.
The marine forecast for inland waters shows a gale warning for today and tomorrow with winds from 30 to 40 knots. According to the National Weather Service strong winds will cause hazardous seas which could capsize or damage vessels and reduce visibility. “It is highly recommended that mariners without the proper experience seek safe harbor prior to the onset of gale conditions. “
I don’t have any desire to set out on the sea in a small boat, but I’m sure that when daylight comes I’ll find an excuse to go down by the beach to see how the wind is affecting the water in the bay. There is something exciting and attractive about the wildness of the weather.
I won’t see quite the spectacle that has engulfed the famous Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, where two massive tides have engulfed the beach, making the sands disappear and throwing waves up onto the promenade. The east coast of Australia is being pounded by huge waves. In the pictures of the phenomenon that I can see on the Internet, there are plenty of onlookers - people who are going out to places near the water just to have a look at the power of the storm. I don’t know how safe those people are, or whether or not they have been warned to stay away from where they are going, but I do understand the attraction of going outside to look at the wind and waves.
I am grateful to have shelter from the wind and rain, but I’m not the kind of person who longs to stay inside all day long. Even when I’ve got plenty of work to do and reasons to stay inside, I find myself looking for excuses to venture outside and feel the weather. When we lived in places with sub-zero temperatures, I found myself venturing out. I took a kind of pride in being able to dress for cold weather and even if my only chore was a walk of a few blocks to the post office, I enjoyed being able to face whatever the weather had to offer.
Recently, I have been working on reformatting the archives of my journal. I have nearly 15 years of entries that I have published on the Internet and the time has come to organize them and make them more accessible. Some of that work is repetitive and slow going. But I am fascinated to look at large blocks of journal entries. In the course of a year there are topics that come up over and over again - themes to my journals that are themes of my life. For example, I have written about home and the process of returning home after travel a lot. Of course faith and the work of being a pastor is a central theme as is family. Among other themes, the topic of weather is a regular feature of my journals.
Decades ago, when I was living in North Dakota, I used to think it a bit strange that the folks gathered in the local cafe for coffee each morning could always talk about the weather. In those days, there were lots of other topics that I wanted to explore. Weather, however, is life to a farmer and I was spending a lot of time with farmers. No matter what the weather, even if it is raining when the crops need moisture and sunny when it is time to harvest, a North Dakota farmer is capable of imagining a year with weather conditions that are just a bit better than what is being experienced. I used to think that they were complaining, and I don’t see much point in complaining about the weather. Now, I think that it was simply the power of imagination that continued to stir hope. No matter how difficult things were - and things were pretty difficult for farmers during the farm crisis of the 1980’s - those resilient people could imagine that better days might be coming. This storm is not as big as the one I remember from my childhood. These conditions won’t last forever. Some day the weather and the markets will cooperate for a banner year. Do you remember the year that was so good nearly every farm sported a new tractor or pickup? What might sound to outsiders as complaining about the weather was really an expression of hope. The future isn’t going to be quite as hard as the present.
In the years since I was a beginning pastor in North Dakota, I have become much more like those farmers. I pay attention to the weather even though my work and chores have little to do with the weather. I do most of my work inside in front of a computer screen these days. I can be productive regardless of the weather. I can even work from home if weather conditions make the roads slippery. But I am still drawn to going outside. I like to have a little challenge. I enjoy driving on snowy roads that keep others at home. I want to stand facing the wind and feel its power even when it is blowing rain in my face.
And I talk about the weather a lot. Somehow I find it comforting that there are forces that shape my life that are bigger and stronger than I am. Of course, I’ll be glad when the winds subside. The trees are blooming and I am eager to see the blossoms in the sunlight after the storm. I hope that the seemingly fragile blooms on the Yew tree in my backyard will hang on. I hope that the magnolia flowers outside my office window survive the blow. But today, I find comfort in the warmth of my home despite the sound of the winds outside. And I am eager, when daylight comes, to venture out and face the wind.
The marine forecast for inland waters shows a gale warning for today and tomorrow with winds from 30 to 40 knots. According to the National Weather Service strong winds will cause hazardous seas which could capsize or damage vessels and reduce visibility. “It is highly recommended that mariners without the proper experience seek safe harbor prior to the onset of gale conditions. “
I don’t have any desire to set out on the sea in a small boat, but I’m sure that when daylight comes I’ll find an excuse to go down by the beach to see how the wind is affecting the water in the bay. There is something exciting and attractive about the wildness of the weather.
I won’t see quite the spectacle that has engulfed the famous Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, where two massive tides have engulfed the beach, making the sands disappear and throwing waves up onto the promenade. The east coast of Australia is being pounded by huge waves. In the pictures of the phenomenon that I can see on the Internet, there are plenty of onlookers - people who are going out to places near the water just to have a look at the power of the storm. I don’t know how safe those people are, or whether or not they have been warned to stay away from where they are going, but I do understand the attraction of going outside to look at the wind and waves.
I am grateful to have shelter from the wind and rain, but I’m not the kind of person who longs to stay inside all day long. Even when I’ve got plenty of work to do and reasons to stay inside, I find myself looking for excuses to venture outside and feel the weather. When we lived in places with sub-zero temperatures, I found myself venturing out. I took a kind of pride in being able to dress for cold weather and even if my only chore was a walk of a few blocks to the post office, I enjoyed being able to face whatever the weather had to offer.
Recently, I have been working on reformatting the archives of my journal. I have nearly 15 years of entries that I have published on the Internet and the time has come to organize them and make them more accessible. Some of that work is repetitive and slow going. But I am fascinated to look at large blocks of journal entries. In the course of a year there are topics that come up over and over again - themes to my journals that are themes of my life. For example, I have written about home and the process of returning home after travel a lot. Of course faith and the work of being a pastor is a central theme as is family. Among other themes, the topic of weather is a regular feature of my journals.
Decades ago, when I was living in North Dakota, I used to think it a bit strange that the folks gathered in the local cafe for coffee each morning could always talk about the weather. In those days, there were lots of other topics that I wanted to explore. Weather, however, is life to a farmer and I was spending a lot of time with farmers. No matter what the weather, even if it is raining when the crops need moisture and sunny when it is time to harvest, a North Dakota farmer is capable of imagining a year with weather conditions that are just a bit better than what is being experienced. I used to think that they were complaining, and I don’t see much point in complaining about the weather. Now, I think that it was simply the power of imagination that continued to stir hope. No matter how difficult things were - and things were pretty difficult for farmers during the farm crisis of the 1980’s - those resilient people could imagine that better days might be coming. This storm is not as big as the one I remember from my childhood. These conditions won’t last forever. Some day the weather and the markets will cooperate for a banner year. Do you remember the year that was so good nearly every farm sported a new tractor or pickup? What might sound to outsiders as complaining about the weather was really an expression of hope. The future isn’t going to be quite as hard as the present.
In the years since I was a beginning pastor in North Dakota, I have become much more like those farmers. I pay attention to the weather even though my work and chores have little to do with the weather. I do most of my work inside in front of a computer screen these days. I can be productive regardless of the weather. I can even work from home if weather conditions make the roads slippery. But I am still drawn to going outside. I like to have a little challenge. I enjoy driving on snowy roads that keep others at home. I want to stand facing the wind and feel its power even when it is blowing rain in my face.
And I talk about the weather a lot. Somehow I find it comforting that there are forces that shape my life that are bigger and stronger than I am. Of course, I’ll be glad when the winds subside. The trees are blooming and I am eager to see the blossoms in the sunlight after the storm. I hope that the seemingly fragile blooms on the Yew tree in my backyard will hang on. I hope that the magnolia flowers outside my office window survive the blow. But today, I find comfort in the warmth of my home despite the sound of the winds outside. And I am eager, when daylight comes, to venture out and face the wind.
