Thaw

Thaw

Finally coming out of our Narnian-like winter and it is all thawing. Our road into and out to and from the first paved road is still ugly and we had friends who could not make it up Saturday. Slowly it is getting better, but I have surely become thankful for four-wheel-drive. We've passed abandoned cars without a problem.

Alas, the thaw isn't quite so nice as was Narnia's. Nothing is blooming and the snow is a slushy brown and black muddy mess. The pristine snowy white beauty of before now looks more like a third-world meteorological war zone of sorts. The snow may be going, but the wet muddy winter of the Northwest has TECHNICALLY only just begun.

That said, we also are now TECHNICALLY seeing our days lengthen - it has struck me as odd that the first day of winter marks the end of the worse in terms of our astronomical orientation. It is wholly appropriate that the darkest of night is symbolically beaten back by God born as a human baby. The coming of material light, however, is none-the-less still an act of faith: the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For if you are like me, it will STILL remain dark on the way in to work and dark on the way home for a long time to come.

I suppose, faith in the certainty of the earth's axial tilt and course around our little yellow star is easier than faith in God become man and wise men being taught to adore him by a new star. In truth the latter is a far more trustworthy reality. Open my eyes, Lord.

I will work for a few days and then retire to spend the rest of the 12 days with my kin - returning back to the grind after Theophany. Despite the ugliness of the thaw, it is good to be "free" again.