Looking Forward

Well, the weather has been a rather wild ride this winter.  Unlike the winters of recent past (with some exceptions), this winter has been colder and appears to be snowier than the others.  It’s also been a sort of roller coaster, with temperatures in the deep freeze for a few days, then warming up to above normal temps for a few days…and right back down to the freezer again.

Although people gripe about the weather this year, they’ve griped about the weather every year, so that’s not news.  And I actually kind of like this weather.  We aren’t in the deep freeze for interminable days and nights, nor are the trees budding out on January 20^th.  The insect populations are being dealt with as God intended, which might make for a nicer spring and summer season coming up.  There’s enough moisture in the ground that we aren’t blowing away, although we could certainly use another three or four inches of snow, or a half inch or so of rain about now.

I haven’t a clue if the weather goes in cycles of certain time periods or not.  And I don’t think anyone else really and truly knows either.  Nor do I know if we are experiencing global warming, and if we are, is that phenomenon caused by pollutants in the air.  People smarter than I am, and without the bias of politics and conspiracy, will have to figure that one out.  I’m content to do my best to be friendly to this earth and live my life as God would have me live it (as best as I can determine).

So for now, I am enjoying the change in temperatures and the occasional cloudy days and cold days, along with the nice, clear days that we can sit on the front walk in our folding chairs and enjoy the warmth and out of doors.  You should also try to find times wherever you live to enjoy the winter, whether cold or warm, cloudy or clear.  I know that may be somewhat difficult for those who have piles of snow on the sides of streets, and navigate perpetually-icy sidewalks in temperatures that would freeze the bunion off of a gold prospector’s foot.

Winter is still with us, but calendar spring is a mere 8 weeks away.  And the normal start of spring, weather-wise, is just under 10 weeks away.  Before we know it, we’ll be checking the onion bulbs we planted, waiting for the peas and radishes to break through, and making decisions on the kinds of tomatoes and cucumbers we’ll plant.  And it will again be a time of bursting out and new life.  What a great time!

Heavenly Sunshine

OK, OK, so it’s been a couple of weeks.  Give me a break.  I’m getting older, and the brain doesn’t work quite as well as it used to work.  Or maybe I just don’t move quite as fast as I sued to move.  In any event, sometimes I get behind.

It’s been a roller-coaster winter for us here in Kansas.  We’ve had our warmer weather, but not too much of it.  And we’ve had our cold, below zero weather (again, but not too much of it).  We’ve had some snow, some rain, some ice, some wind, and some sun.  A patchwork of weather, I would say, has come our way these last couple of months.  This, I think, is what winter should be like in South-Central Kansas.

I’m sure we will yet have a time when there will come what seem to be endless days of gloom, clouds, fog, and drizzly-foggy-icy-ick.  There usually is at least one of those during the winter and early spring.  Times when for days at a time, the low clouds hang in and hang on, blocking out any notion of the sun and bright days.

These are the days when I am at my worst.  I am moody, irritable, and grouchy.  And if that isn’t enough, I am listless, hard to get along with, and temperamental.  And when the sun does reappear, it’s as if a dark veil has been lifted from my eyes, and it doesn’t take long for all to be right with the world again.

Some people like these days.  Some people live where there are many of these days.  And I suppose I could live there, too, if I had to do so.  But I’d really rather not, so as to be of maximum grouchiness a minimal amount of time.

One thing I tend to NOT do during these days of fog, low clouds, and gloom is think about the sunshine that is heavenly in nature, and of which several songs, many of them older songs, tell.  One such song is just called “Heavenly Sunshine.”  It goes like this…a simple chorus.

Heavenly sunshine, heavenly sunshine,
Flooding my soul with glory divine,
Heavenly sunshine, heavenly sunshine,
Hallelujah! Jesus is mine!

You know, maybe if I would think more about things like this during those days of gloomy clouds, and less about how I am inconvenienced by those clouds, my whole attitude might change.  I just might be a decent person and one who others would want to be around.  Hopefully, I’ll recall that I typed this blog when that time comes, and try it.