February 09

For the past few weeks, I think most of my attention that hasn’t gone to either the services we presented or the inauguration has been on keeping warm. The cold isn’t quite what I expected, but it is Colorado and it is winter. Right? Right?  And why is the weather so important anyway.

It is important and here is why. Who wants spring fever in the middle of winter?

I moved out to Grand Junction in August. It was hot. It was mercilessly hot for about three hours of the day. But it didn’t take me long to figure out that much of the rest of the day was pretty decent. The early mornings and later evenings were quite beautiful. Within days, I began to find myself wanting to be out more and more. I began to plan how to build a shade/shelter for my back deck, which is on the south side and completely exposed. I got used to living almost as much out doors as in. I like that.

It was shocking when we began to have day after day of inversions, freezing temperatures, and cold evenings. When I asked about such things, everyone assured me that most of the time, it is warm and sunny and that the really cold weather would soon end. To make matters worse (I probably would not have really taken that much notice except for this) I had told a friend how beautiful it is here and I wanted to send her a picture. I had pictures I took last fall but I wanted to take a similar one with the snow. Because the inversion stayed, the picture was never taken. I eventually got a picture, but nothing like what I thought I would get.

I never anticipated cabin fever. I never thought I would get spring fever or the frustration of being locked in. Now I have spring fever and though it is only February, I long for the farmer’s market and things growing.

Finding ones self drawn to the life of spring and the greening that comes with it is probably the greatest spiritual gift one can have. We have an urge to say yes to life. Good spiritual practice is always a reflection of nature. It is cyclical. The weather, the moon, the seasons and even the cycles of day and night link us and ground us in nature. There is no stasis. Everything changes. And that is why talking about the weather is important. Funny isn’t it. The mundane is somehow sacred but the sacred is never mundane. There is no ordinary sacred. How does that work?

I like the advice I get from some of you in the congregation. Take a walk. (bless you Lance) Enjoy the day. Smile at a stranger. Love the simple. And that is how to weather the weather. That is how to be happy.

Zakir