Reflections by Rev. Joanne Anquist

Monday saw our first real snow of the season.  Winter is officially here!  We all ventured forth, forgetting how to drive on ice, making appointments to switch our tires over to winter grade, passing more than one car that had spun out when the accelerator was still in summer mode!  It won’t stay, yet – but it’s a reminder of what is to come!

I was grateful this year that the snow held off until October 21st!  I’ve run across others who are new to our province, who are finding it hard to accept that there can be snow in October and the leaves are near done.  My dental hygienist, who I visited this week, is from Vancouver and just realized that she’s going to have to get different tires and snow boots!  All the folks in the office were telling her the tricks of living with winter in Alberta.  I placated her with the hope that in February we might get weather in the 20s!  Also, we spent some time talking about all the rain in Vancouver – made us both feel better for a moment.  She told me she used to have umbrellas for every occasion – fancy going out umbrellas, utilitarian heavy rain umbrellas, different colors and styles.  She said she reduced her stash to 2 once she got here.  Umbrellas as a fashion statement!  Who knew!

I have met folks new to Canada, from warmer climes, who love the look of that first snow – settling on the ground and sitting gently on the tree branches.  They love to play in it, make their first snow angel – maybe a snowman or mounting a snowball fight.  That lasts usually about a week and then they, like us, get over it and learn to slog through.

This time of year, I’m envious of those who live in Eastern parts of our country.  The time I spent in Nova Scotia at seminary is full of memories of hardwood trees that display the brightest most colorful hues in the Fall.  The temperatures remained above zero until late November and December, which I loved.  But I hated the winter there.  The snow was so thick and wet you would step off a curb unsuspecting and end up with your shoes soaked.  They would call snow days before the first flakes fell, knowing that when the snow came you wouldn’t be able to see in front of you and the traffic would be snarled up for hours.  All my years in Calgary schools I can’t remember one snow day.  One winter at Atlantic School of Theology and I had 3!

In Ontario, where I lived for 6+ years, the winter was gray and dull and the summer was far too humid.  Still, the spring and fall there were sent from heaven.  Wildfires and tornados, hail storms and torrential rain – they are becoming a fixture of our western Canadian climate, but humidity is not a problem here in those summer months!  On a sunny day in July all is right with the world.

Every region has its glorious days, every region has it’s weather nightmares.  It’s part of life in Canada.  When people ask me why I stay in Calgary, when snow can come any month of the year, I have to remember what’s truly important.  If the thing I value most was weather, I wouldn’t live here (probably would use my US birthright citizenship to move to California!).  But my family is here, and opportunities are many.  The people are friendly and open, the sky goes on forever.  I value my family, my job, the many days of sunshine even when it’s freezing.  The most important things in life are all here – at least for now!

So every time I moan at the snow in October, or September, or August (god forbid) I remind myself of why I’m here.  I look for the beauty in the moment.  I meditate on what I truly value.  I breathe in and look up… and then I start the countdown to Spring!

Prayer

God of all times and places, when we are irked by small things – inconvenient snow, folks in our public space who seem so rude, children who act out and get on our last nerve – remind us that the truly important things in life are not collected by chance.  Solid loving families, good work, joyful times with friends, these are not random – they are chosen.  Give us courage to create spaces of love and expansive faith.  May we live into this wonderful world with all the wonder of a child and the wisdom of the sages.  Amen