So, as I’m writing this, it’s January, winter here in Virginia. After my lunch break and before getting back to work on the computer I went outdoors to lay in the sun for a few minutes – in honor of my mother. Very nice. A ‘balmy’ 61 degrees. Hot even, especially with the warm memories. Let me explain.
For several years I’d make the 15 hour drive to Indiana and then turn right back around and bring my mother back to stay for about a month at my home. We’re in a coastal area. So typically it’s about 15 degrees warmer here in the winter. OK, it’s not like going to South Florida but it’s just enough to make a pretty big difference. Especially for my mom and me.
We’re cold natured people. So, trust me it doesn’t take much cold to get us REALLY COLD! That’s not to say we’re softies. I can remember many times we got out in the snow and wind and stayed out in it until the job was done – whatever the job was. God wants to use the uncomfortableness of the outdoors to teach you perseverance and build resilience. The pain of unthawing numb frozen hands was a lesson too – a lesson in, “I shouldn’t have stayed out so long.”
I love soaking up the sun. My mom did too. And her dad, my grandfather, he couldn’t get enough. So, when my mom visited and there were January days like today, I’d set up a lawn chair by the garage or just a plastic lawn chair on the small porch in our English garden and get her in it. That’s where I was today. We’d set out together. No cell phone, no music, no agenda other than to simply be quiet and rest in the glorious gift of God’s goodness.
Eventually I’d hear her tell me, “I gotta get up.” I’d ask the rhetorical question, “Why?” To which she’d reply, “I’m hot!” Ah, those beautiful words. Beautiful because it was the achievement of an incredibly difficult thing to accomplish. I’d smile because we attained the ultimate in simple fulfillment.
My call to action is this: Stop doing what you think is so important and Gooooo with God. The presence of His Spirit is there if you’ll just take time to feel it.
As you get outdoors tune into God and ask for only simple fulfillment. He gives it warmly and abundantly. And, while you’re at it do the outdoors with someone close to you, ideally a member of your family. Because beyond the moment, doing simple life with others will produce a God-given warmth that lasts well into your fondest memories.
Adventure fully in Christ,
Brad Bloom, Publisher
