I don’t know what the weather is like in your part of the world, but around here we’ve been having a heat wave. On Oct. 27, the high (87 degrees) was 20 or more degrees above normal, and the low (75) was well above the normal high.
After a record number of 90 degree days in 2010 and a couple of record-setting power bills at my house — despite keeping the thermostat on 78 — I’m beginning to wonder if global warming isn’t making its impact felt sooner rather than later.
Fortunately, a cool front should have come through by the time this blog posts. It’s hard to get in the mood for sitting on the porch and greeting trick-or-treaters when the most appropriate attire for the weather might be a bathing suit and flip-flops. The cool-down could be too late for my chrysanthemums, which are already wilting. Soon, my pumpkin will be growing soft and caving in.
I like to imagine the heat has something to do with why Christmas decorations seem a bit slower going up in the stores this year. Maybe managers know that it’s hard to get excited about snow scenes when there are heat waves rising from the parking lot.
Weather in the temperate zones can be baffling, but that’s part of what makes it, and life, so interesting. If we could look at a calendar and know for certain what the weather was going to be, if storms never surprised us or sunny days in winter never delighted us, could we stand the monotony?
I’m not crazy about extreme temperatures, whether hot or cold, but I do like variety. I like the seasons. I like hoping for snow and longing for rain and waiting for the first frost. I like watching winter’s bare bones reborn every spring as the cycle begins anew. Things don’t always happen as I hope or expect, but that’s all a part of what makes every day an adventure, every breeze a messenger, and every painted leaf a gift from God.
Professor of Old Testament at Campbell University Divinity School in Buies Creek, North Carolina, and the Contributing Editor and Curriculum Writer at Good Faith Media.
