Sunshine

As I write this in the middle of the afternoon, the brilliant sun is pouring into my office. I’ve long since closed the blinds enough to be able to function while dodging the sun in my eyes and the glare on my computer screen. I hate to shut out this amazing gift that is the winter sun, and I delay as long as possible, but each day it’s earlier and earlier. The angle of the sun is still low enough that it dips in here shortly after one o’clock. In summer, with the higher sun I can usually resist quite a bit longer.

My daughter-in-law posted a note this morning about a big pile-up of cars on her way in to work, most likely caused by that early, but still low in the sky, rising sun. And the afternoon traffic reporter will be talking about the western sun in drivers’ eyes. At this time of year it’s setting right at the afternoon rush hour.

Oh it’s still plenty cold out there. Someone said “I call it ‘fools’ sunshine’ because it just looks warm.” These are the days the moms have to remind the young’uns that they do still need snow pants even though the sun is bright! And all those newcomers from tropical countries are trying to adjust to the apparent contradiction of blazing sun and bitter cold. Once when I was in Africa I was chatting with one of the maids in my hotel. She had no hope of ever visiting a faraway place like Canada and had lots of questions about what it was like to live here. Mostly she was intrigued by such things as changing seasons, trees without leaves and days that were longer and shorter at different times of year.

I appreciate all this more now having spent some time in Tahiti (Hawaii would be similar) near enough the equator that the days are pretty much twelve hours long all year round and while leaves do fall off some trees, it’s never all at once so there’s always green above, below and around you all the time. I remember how strange it felt to have the sun go down at six o’clock despite the still balmy temperatures. My brain struggled to deal with a short summer evening! In Canada the light lingers in warm weather.

Our days are lengthening noticeably. Over the next two or three weeks we’ll gain an hour of daylight! How are those extra daylight hours affecting you? They surely do impact us who make this adjustment, for better or worse as our seasons roll around. What are your energy levels doing these days? Or have you come to the point of desperately needing a winter holiday in a warm place? Have your “snow-birds” been in touch? Will they be returning any time soon? And how will that make a difference in your planning?

I often tell people that we plan activities without regard for the possibility of bad weather, otherwise we’d plan nothing between November and April! But as the days lengthen I sense more activity out there in the congregations. Is it the sun stirring things up? Something is.

Posted by Marion