Reflections by Rev. Joanne Anquist
I love This Hour Has 22 Minutes for the way it embodies the Canadian spirit. One of my favorites sketches is one where a couple is suffering through a cold winter blast, checking the 7 day forecast, and on day 7 it is +1. Great rejoicing at the hope of a temperature above zero. Video is below if you’d like to watch it!
I know that feeling – you’re in the midst of a deep freeze and refreshing the weather forecast every few hours to see when that break will come. This morning (I’m writing this on Tuesday) my son’s car wouldn’t start so I had to drive him to the train. He is usually good natured but even he was lamenting the extended cold snap, ready for some warm weather. Oh what joy when we look at the forecast and it will go to +13 by Sunday!
My daughter is living in Montreal where they have had 74 cm of snow in four days. She is sending me pictures of her roommates car that is completely covered, and a friend who is walking outside with the snow way past her knees! “I’ve never seen this much snow” Naomi says. Thank goodness we don’t live in the snow belt!
Hope is an interesting practice. It strengthens with experience, for sure. We can handle the coldest days of winter because we’ve been there before. We know, eventually, we’ll hit that +1!
Sometimes it’s harder to maintain hope when our life circumstances seem to be in the dead of winter. It is especially difficult if we are treading new territory – if we have little perspective because our past experiences haven’t prepared us for what is happening. This often comes with grief and loss. We feel disoriented for a time, until we can see a new normal. When the +1 finally appears, we see a path forward, ever so slightly.
Some of us have the same disorientation when we watch the news. We don’t recognize the world, because political change is happening everywhere. Many feel that the world is heading for a realignment, and Canada is caught in the middle. In a flurry of patriotism, Buy Canadian has become a catchphrase. Hockey games take on new import. Travel is cancelled – apparently Newfoundland has become a new go-to destination! Even so, there seem to be few signposts for what will happen in the long run. There is no +1 in the forecast – yet!
The thing about hope is that it is grounded in a dream of what could be. When I look outside my window, and see the leafless apple tree with shriveled fruit I know that come spring blossoms will abound. I can imagine a world where sun and warmth bring new life. This is how we hang on through struggles in our personal lives as well. We have seen others overcome, we have gathered strength to face the hurdles in front of us, we can imagine our lives in a better place. We hope, we dream, we build, we become.
It is the same with this political uncertainty as well. What we know is that we are stronger together. What we remember is that we have built resilience throughout our history. What we claim are the ideals that we hold dear that we will not compromise. If there is to be a new way forward, it will be with the dream of a better Canada and the determination to hope, to dream, to build, to become. There will be a +1 in the forecast. ‘Til then, we hang on and hope!