Tip of My Iceberg

I had the chance to go to Boston for a work project with the added benefit of visiting my daughter and son-in-law.

During a blizzard.

I’ve not spent much time in Boston. Only one other time, really. And it was warm. Got to see a few of the historic sites.

Not now. This Florida gal hasn’t seen snow fall like this in a coon’s age. (Does a coon have a clue that his life span is a measure of time?)  The temperature had dropped dramatically. The term “polar vortex” has been thrown around the news. Again.

It was cold. Really cold.

I love the fact that they’ve named this new outbreak of cold and snow the “polar vortex”. When I was growing up, it was a cold snap. We’d have an occasional snow day, but it had to be a goodly amount of the white stuff to make them close the doors of the school. (Yeah, and I also had to walk miles to school. Every day. In the snow. Uphill both ways.)

It’s all context. I grew up in the midwest and lived many a winter in the ice and snow. But having been in Florida for so long now, I don’t do cold like I used to. I have managed to learn to do hot and humid really well.

Who am I kidding? I can easily complain about both. I often do.

Living in my current reality makes me yearn for cooler temperatures on the days when the temperature hovers in the upper 90’s with humidity hanging heavily on everyone. And yet, with the opportunity for truly cold weather, I can crab how cold to the bone I am and long for the warmth of home.

Not fickleness. (Though some would comment that with me that’s exactly what it is.)

It’s wanting what I don’t have. It’s desiring what I can’t get. And being grumpy about what I do have.

Lack of gratitude. Loss of contentment.

Rather than being grateful that I could be some place different, I saw the inconvenience. Even though I got to be with people I love. Rather than being truly glad that I could walk through the snow and catch the flakes on my tongue–my five-year-old self should have been happy–I groused about how cold my feet were.

The apostle Paul talked about having a sense of contentment that often didn’t jive with his circumstances.

“Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who who I am.”        Philippians 4:11-13

My circumstances will change daily. What remains the same–always–is my ability to choose how I’ll respond to them.

With Jesus, I have a capacity to respond with hope that doesn’t come from my ability to dredge up a good attitude.

No matter how ridiculously cold my feet are.