FOOD FOR THOUGHT
(01/17/2009)
WEATHER
WIMP
Cindy Hong
Last
Saturday afternoon, as we were in the middle of the Arctic winter that
blasted its way through Houston with near record low temperatures, I had
my own shiver party at home. It started with me trying to do some school
reading and writing in the usual spot, the dining table. I was nursing
my second cup of brewed coffee, more for the heat than the caffeine, fleece
scarf around the neck, snuggled in a blanket. Still chilled, it finally
occurred to me to move everything upstairs and work in bed. Heat rises,
they say, but with the furnace actually right next to the bedroom, I hoped
for some form of osmosis effect. So gathering pens and paper, the stack
of books currently “reading,” I lugged them upstairs where the temp
was indeed a few degrees warmer and jumped into bed, burrowing under the
flannel sheets, two comforters, and three blankets. Prior to stints in
Texas , Taiwan , and North Carolina , the growing up years were spent
in New York , Chicago , and as you already know, Detroit , where Arctic
winters are the norm rather than an anomaly. We had multiple sets of long
johns and cuddle duds, with matching hats, mittens, scarves, and snow
pants. I thought these years of built up hardiness would be enough for
a 3-day freeze warning with wind chill in the teens. Wrong. Little did
I know I had become a wimp, unable to weather such cold. Yet this thinking
permeates my life, aside from the weather. How often do I think that a
good time yesterday with Jesus would be enough to get me through today,
and while we're at it, tomorrow too? I know, such a wimp, right? Worse
yet, I usually think this while sipping a freshly brewed cup of coffee
in the morning. It seems crazy to try to live off of yesterday's weather
or fried chicken, memories or conversations. Each day we wake up, we are
at a different place in life, needing new food, learning new lessons,
meeting new challenges. Each day needs a fresh pot of coffee, a new sunrise,
its own memories, a renewed connection with God, basking in just a day's
worth of His presence and love.
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