“How will I respond to this storm?”

By Ryan LeBlanc

Weather that wants you dead: Are you in or are you out?

When bad weather hits, we see our interior atmospheric conditions more clearly.

In a blizzard, after a huge snow dump, when the temperature is dangerously cold, I look out the window and often see neighbours and strangers offering to help one another. A prairie classic is when a vehicle is stuck in the snow, and all of a sudden anyone passing by rushes to help push it out.

In Saskatchewan, Mother Nature teaches us every winter to help one another, because the next time it could be me needing help. I wish that lesson was more deeply learned for every part of our life together.

The truth is, when I look out the window into a storm, I’m also looking inside myself, and sometimes there’s a storm there too.

Our planet is so beautiful and awe-inspiring, yet it takes the unstoppable power of a storm for me to remember how small and weak I am, how much I need protection and safety. So, I experience howling winds of fear.

In my cozy pyjamas, I shake my head and take a sip of coffee, standing over the heater vent. The warmth assures me, and for a moment I am as grateful as I should always be for a safe and secure home. My protection rattles but stays firm around my pocket of warmth.

Dark figures start to trudge out into the stark white. They shovel or blow snow or stomp to the bus stop. They brush off their cars, clear a bit of a path, dive into the powder with everything they got. I’m filled with admiration and respect, that these people have the strength and courage to charge into weather that clearly doesn’t want them to. Each person has a story about what is more important to them than their comfort, what needs to get done.

I’m challenged. I know I have some strength, and some mission, but I also don’t want to venture out. There’s two systems in me: one pushes me out to risk the adventure, one pulls me back to keep me safe. It’s the conflict between the two that gets stormy.

Even detached from the elements behind the window, even bundled up until I can barely see anything, I witness care and compassion between those going out and those trapped within. While one clears his car, he clears another’s. When someone stays home, another checks in on her. The ones who can get moving bring those who can’t along. The ones at home welcome in the ones who are out. We all have our individual missions to achieve and adapt, but along the way, we become the mission of one another.

How will I respond to this storm?

Barricading my weak spots locks me in a solitary prison until I starve for what I need. Attacking the obstacles with single-minded warrior determination leaves me stranded.

When bad weather hits, we learn that only a calm generous atmosphere within us can see us through the storm.

Let’s pray:

Lord Jesus,
your friends cried out to you in the storm.
You showed them your care and your power.
Calm the storms of tension and loneliness within us,
that we might live in the light of unity and peace.
Amen

-30-

Ryan LeBlanc is a Teacher Chaplain at E.D. Feehan Catholic High School in Saskatoon and a parishioner at the Cathedral of the Holy Family.