Today’s Alberta sky offers us a Chinook Arch. Now that has real promise in it. Maybe, just maybe, that grey sky will clear and the blue bit we see under the arch will soon fill the whole sky. Yup, we Albertans are sky-watchers. The weather plays an important part in our lives and often our conversation to each other includes mentions of its impact on us.
I hadn’t realized that until we spent several winters in Arizona. Down there no one remarked on the weather. Once in a blue moon someone would say it was a ‘pretty’ day but that was it. Maybe it’s because our livelihood depends so much on the weather…just ask a farmer (and the province is full of farmers), or speak to someone in the lumbering industry (especially about the summer-wildfires that burn out acres and acres of good lumber.) And even our tourist industry is affected by the abundance or scarcity of snow cover.
I live in a small town (well, about 56,000) that is located in a hollow with small hills on a couple of sides, but mostly if you get to the top of the hill you can see ‘forever.’ In town the weather patterns can be variable depending on which end of city you are at. There is rain at one end and sunshine at the other.
One thing for sure, is that you need clothes for all seasons near the back door. Storing your winter coats in the basement is never wise; as soon as you hang them there, it snows. And yes, I have seen snow in the spring and in the summer. One young southern American child who was visiting her aunt here in August, experienced her first snowfall . ”Thank you for making it snow, Auntie Donna,” she cried. Not many of us felt like thanking Auntie Donna, although we knew she was not responsible.
Yes, there is no counting on the weather, except of course that winter comes every year and stays for months and months and by the time it ends your whole being will be aching for spring. Yet we stay. We love the open skies, the flowing acres of yellow canola fields etc., but most of all we love the people…the pioneer spirit is still sprinkled over the inhabitants and although it is often a next-year kind of philosophy, we trundle on.
It’s rather wonderful that our Lord is so much more reliable…never forsaking, always patient, always full of promise and equipping us for every little variance in our lives. Yes, problems arise but we are never alone. Poor health may rain down on us, but his love is like an umbrella, sheltering us. The snow of sadness (when we lose someone we love), may smother us for a while, but he sustains us and gives us courage. He has promised that He will always be there for us regardless of what we have to weather in the future. And He always keeps his promises.
Photo of Calgary (2013) by Ricky Leong via Flickr, Creative Commons
