Five MInute Friday - Cold

One word. Five minutes to write about it. This is the idea behind Five Minute Friday and this is today's free-writing post.

baby, it's cold outside

Shut the door not that it lets in the cold but that it lets out the coziness. ~Mark Twain

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I suspect that this week, the vast majority of Americans are thinking about how cold it is. Relatively speaking. Those of us in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic, and northeast have been experiencing temperatures well below freezing and wind chills that are in the double digit negatives. But I have friends in Florida and other parts of the south where it's not sub-zero, but it is considerably colder than what they are used to. 

There's part of me that thinks, "guys, it's winter. It is cold in winter and it snows. It literally happens every year" and that is true. But it sure doesn't stop me, or anyone else, from discussing the weather like it's so unusual, or from commentaries on just how cold it is and how miserable it is. After all, the weather is a standard topic to begin small talk conversations, and very useful for building a common ground and shared experience as a starting point with almost anyone we interact with. 

It is indeed very cold as I'm writing this, but I'm writing it from the safety and warmth of my home, where I have food and clothes and electricity. I'm not actually suffering. Few of us who complain good-naturedly about how cold it is are. For most of us it's uncomfortable and inconvenient, and prompts us to count the days until the cold snap is over or until spring arrives.*

In the cold dark days of the winter, dream about the flowers to get warmed up! ~Mehmet Murat Ildan

We know that relief from the cold is coming, because we can count on the seasons running their courses, and sometimes we even joke that it won't be long until we're complaining about how hot it is.

Thus he gives snow like wool,

scatters hoarfrost like ashes,

sends crystals of ice like crumbs of bread ―

who can withstand such cold?

Then he sends his word out and melts them;

he makes the winds blow and the water flows.

~Psalm 147:16-18~

The cold weather is a very small thing to complain about in the grand scheme of things*, but even these seemingly little things can be reminders that our inconveniences are only temporary. Spring and summer are coming, and hopefully we'll appreciate the sunshine and flowers even more after an especially cold winter. Believe it or not, even our big troubles will someday seem trivial in light of eternity. Just as we tell ourselves spring is just around the corner as we scrape our windshields and shovel our walks, let us encourage each other that heaven is our home when we go through times of pain and grief here on earth.

For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

~II Corinthians 4:17-18~

What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness. ~John Steinbeck

*this is not intended to trivialize suffering in any way, or to imply that extreme temperatures don't have horrible consequences to those who do not have adequate shelter

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This post is linked at Five Minute Friday for the word prompt "Cold"

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