Perspectives

It is snowing a lot today, enough that the local schools were canceled, and many people are staying off the roads. This is slightly unusual here in which we generally get more rain through the winter than snow - although not as unheard of as the snow that has fallen in the southern United States' east coast of late. Still, snow usually doesn't last long here. So for us, it is a treat. The kids get a day off to go play around, through snowballs, make cool snow sculptures, etc. Looking out from a warm interior, I'm reminded about a CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp) program a year or two ago about how our views of winter have changed over the years. Not all that long ago, really, we humans from the northern hemisphere dreaded winter. It was not so much the darkness, as the hardships of staying warm, sheltered, clothed, and doing the chores. To be frank, winter often brought death. But then our attitudes changed (along with our affluence, so goes the theory) and winter became romanticized, and a grand place for winter sports: hockey (this is the CBC after all!), skiing, sledding, sleigh rides, etc. In many ways, it became a matter of perspective.

It seems to me, in this boating life, that perspective is incredibly important. Having to fetch water in jugs from the shore, is the chore a drudgery or an exciting challenge? While the activity is the same, the attitude (and hence the experience) are totally different.

What draws you to the water, and a life upon it? Was it to embrace a life different from one you had on land, with the challenges this includes? Was it to bring that land based life to the sea? (Which brings different challenges with it.)

So on this wintery day, I'm thinking of the remarkable blessings that come our way - if we have the perspective to see them. May we all have such perspective.

Blessed Be,

Joel