Breaking winter's back

Everyone is probably sick of hearing the term "polar vortex".  I don't remember a winter like this since January 1985 when we were back here in IL on furlough from Germany and the temperature went down to -27.  That's what it was here last night.  But the mercury should climb back up to zero today and hopefully from here on out we'll have broken winter's back.  Even if it's cold, anything above zero will feel balmy after this stretch.  

It was -20 or below the last few mornings when we've gone out to do chores.  When there's no wind it isn't bad if you're dressed for it.  The vortex has given us gorgeous sunshine and blue skies so with appropriate clothing it has been invigorating to be out.  Here's what being "dressed for it" looks like.  The water hydrant by the barn has been frozen for a couple weeks so we're hand carrying jugs of water to the animals every time we go out.

Most appointments and activities have been cancelled so it's been cozy to stay at home.  I've tackled some projects that seem low priority during a normal schedule - deep cleaning and some sewing alterations.  Then in the long evenings Pete has been writing and I've been rug hooking.  This is my latest work-in-progress (WIP), rabbits dancing by the light of the moon.

On fresh snow in the mornings there are rabbit tracks all over the farm so I can tell they've been out leaping and scampering when no one is there to see them.

This winter I put up a bird feeder right outside a large window next to the loveseat in the living room.  It's a sheltered spot and has the added advantage that I can open the window and fill the feeders without trudging through the snow.  The cat and I can sit and watch the birds for hours.  I'm surprised they are surviving this weather but they come and gorge themselves all day at the feeder so I hope that is keeping them alive.  It's better than any movie just to sit and watch them.  Downy woodpeckers, cardinals, blue jays, chickadees, juncoes, finches and house sparrows - we're an equal opportunity feeder.  Come one, come all.  Occasionally a hawk swoops in to try to capture a smaller bird but so far we haven't seen murder being done.  The hawk has bonked his head on the windows a couple of times, though.

I planted some seeds about 10 days ago and the parsley and one hollyhock have sprouted on the windowsill.  Seeing new green stirs my gardener's blood and reminds me spring will come, even when it's 20 below zero right now.  I am always deeply thrilled at the miracle of life springing from seeds.  Who but God could think of doing things that way?

My brother has come out lately to learn to hook rugs.  Hooking is definitely not just a woman's hobby.  Here Mark's taking a break from hooking, possibly because the cat is making it difficult for him to hook...???

He tends to hinder my hooking, too.

Speaking of Whit, he's loved having us home all day and having the woodstove going.  Here he is next to the fire last night.  It's a cat's life.

Winter can be brutal but we do love the seasons and the changing rhythms each one brings.  And we're so aware of God's care for us and his creatures through it all.  

  

The "sky is blue" is just a myth ...

I've been rereading Bruce Waltke's An Old Testament Theology. This book was recognized with the 'Christian Book of the Year Award' in 2008 in the category Bible Reference and Study. It is a wonderful book when it comes to understanding the Old Testament but at 1040 pages not for the faint of heart (or eyes).

Waltke has taken a lot of flak for being an evangelical who does not argue for interpreting Genesis 1 as simple history. He sees Genesis 1 more as a polemic against the polytheistic mythologies in the cultures surrounding the nation of Israel at the time that the Creator God YHWH led them out of Egypt into the land of Canaan. Through the creation story in Genesis 1 God provides a corrective for the false cosmogonies of both Mesopotamia, where Abraham and his family had originated, and Egypt, where they had been exposed to the mythologies of the dominant culture for 430 years.

So what does this have to do with blue skies? We're coming to that ... slowly.

Referring to the creation story in Genesis 1:1-2:4A (page 189 of An introduction to Old Testament Theology) Waltke writes:

"I will argue below that Genesis 1 is an ancient Near Eastern cosmogony, but let me emphasize here that its content is essentially historical, not mythological."

Waltke points out that Rudolf Bultmann, a 20th century German theologian who became famous for insisting that we need to "demythologize the Bible", thought that biblical writers, in describing the world as consisting of 3 tiers (1: water above - i.e. clouds in the sky, 2: a flat earth and 3: water below - water in the seas) were not presenting the world as it really is. In Bultmann's view, they were subscribing to a mythological (i.e. non-scientific) view of the world, from which we need to distance ourselves. Waltke comments: 

"Is it not, however, just as plausible that the biblical writers invoked a three tiered vision of the world because that is the way it objectively appears, not because of mythological thinking?

Phenomenally we still invoke a vision of the stars as in the sky, of the sun as rising and setting, and the sky as blue. From a scientific perspective the sky is violet, not blue; it appears as blue because in the daytime, human vision is eight times less sensitive to violet than to blue light."

If you're still with me at this point, you probably hiccuped at the statement that "the sky is violet" like I did. I googled this to see the explanation and found an article in that (being facetious here) famous basic physics and theology journal known as Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/briankoberlein/2017/01/11/earths-skies-are-violet-we-just-see-them-as-blue/. Sure enough, strictly speaking the sky is violet (not violent - though that occurs occasionally, too).

Does describing the sky as blue mean that I am subscribing to some pre-scientific, mythological cosmogony? No, it simply means I am using commonly accepted, everyday language to denote the color of the sky. In fact, I am probably also expressing a number of positive connotations that are associated with the beauty of a bright sunny day in the midwestern United States or in western Germany, where we also lived for many years. (Having also lived in the L.A. basin for 8 years, I'm aware that people there might have some less enthusiastic associations with sunny days during the long dry summers!) And if I said, "What a lovely, bright violet sky!", people would think my Parkinson's had spread to other areas of my brain than just motor control.

So, whenever you look up at a bright blue sky and smile, say to yourself:

What were you just thinking, you poor deluded soul!

... and chuckle.