There's a lot that can make the season unbearable. The snow, the ice, the sub-zero temperatures, the wind. All of it can combine to make northwestern Minnesota a miserable place to live for several months a year. ... And I don't even mind winter all that much.
But then there are those singular winter moments ...
This morning, as I took our two dogs out for our early morning walk, I was struck by the shear beauty of the morning. ... (Well, AFTER the dogs go their first two blocks of wigglies, not listening and tugging on each others' leashes out of them! ... Then the beauty of the morning struck hard!)
To be fair: We're not experiencing a typical northwestern Minnesota winter. Where generally on our yards and boulevards there can sit a couple of feet of snow by late January, we have scant inches, if any at all. And we've only endured (so far) one brutal stretch of sub-zero temperatures that lasted less than a week.
In fact, those who don't know better, might wonder why the fuss over how scary northern Minnesota winters can be is all about ... simply because it's been so "unwinterish" this year.
But even if it may tarnish our region's big and bad winter reputation ... I gotta say that this morning was one that makes you stand in awe of all that God has created. Not just the picture-perfect summer days God has spoiled us with in this neck of the woods. But also the winter days that pleasantly feel as if Mother Nature isn't trying to make humans extinct.
This was a beaut, Clark!
If you've ever been out during the really morning hours of a Minnesota winter night, let me do my best to paint a picture ...
The temperature was a perfect 32 degrees Fahrenheit, which may sound silly if you're not from Minnesota. But when you're regularly dressed in three layers of outerwear in addition to your clothing, you know that any warmer than 32 degrees makes for a really sweaty walk outdoors!
There was zero wind -- not even the slightest whisper -- which meant that the 32 degrees truly was comfortable, and there wasn't a false sense of how cold or warm it is. With my warm clothing on, it felt like I could have walked all day!
The lack of wind also meant that every single sound along the way was heightened. The dogs' panting, my bootsteps with their strap-on metal studs hitting the frosty pavement, the revving of the few cars on the street, even the faint sounds of furnaces kicking on as we walked by our neighbors' houses. The crystal clear air magnified the sounds like a bull horn, while the hardened natural surfaces assured that the sounds would bounce and carry on for great distances.
A very big and ghostly white moon was out in full glory, lighting up the neighborhood like a gigantic natural fluorescent light, eliminating for the most part the need for my powerful headlamp for most of the walk, with the exception of a few tree-heavy blocks where the moon was blotted out. ... The daylight sunshine is astonishing, of course. But have you ever witnessed a full moon with no cloud cover on a winter's morning? ... Breathtaking! ... Tell me that God isn't amazing!
Coincidentally, the day before, on Sunday, we saw very un-January temps of 45 degrees which had done much to melt down what little accumulated snow we do have this winter. And it also meant that with the overnight freeze Sunday into Monday, that most hard surfaces were covered in a beautiful and intricate crystalline frost that made the sidewalks and streets and tree trunks and fence posts and street signs and mud puddles all appear as if they had been painted in sheer, gauzy Waterford crystal. Combine that with the moon shining off every surface, and mere words do not do this morning's beauty justice!
And then there was the company: Gus Gus and Howie. Their antics alone can turn a sour day into an outright joyous one! And vice versa, of course! The little rascals! ... But this morning, I think even they were awestruck by the Creator's beauty, as their shenanigans were at a minimum. And we cruised through our walk without a major furry sibling bickering, just adding to the beauty of the morning. ... I chalk it up to them being aware that this morning was somehow special, and that acting out would spoil it for all three of us!
Now, if you've never experienced a Minnesota winter, or you simply can't bear this seasonal harshness for all kinds of reasons, then all of this will sound like a snake oil salesman trying to pitch you to buy some oceanfront property in Arizona.
But, if you are among the privileged few who get to experience it, you'll know that there are no words to do it justice.
This week's Hebrew Bible reading in the lectionary is Isaiah 40:21-31. In part, it reads:
21 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to live in;
23 who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
This morning I realized that I was among a privileged few ... who got to witness God stretching out the heavens like a curtain, and spreading them apart for us to see the beauty of creation in a most unexpected place: an early midwinter's morning in northern Minnesota. ... Amen!
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