Snow in summer

It’s not here, but it is summer somewhere.

Seven weeks ago the odds against a white Christmas in the UK were huge, it just doesn’t happen very often.

This was most frustrating for the junior members of our family but not so much for us, our Christmas eve trip would have taken considerably longer had it snowed and made for a very messy journey.

The expectation of snow in December is extremely misplaced where we live, true to form a matter days into the new year there were several false starts before a favourable buildup descended. This was nothing like the scale seen in the Eastern USA but it was sufficient enough to cause mayhem and allow for speedy downhill decents.

We had a return to snowfall again at the weekend and it froze like a rock for a couple of days before disappearing yesterday in the rising temperature. Walking to work this morning in the pre dawn darkness it began again, not heavy enough to matter, but enough to cover the blackness of the path.

All of this meteorological coming and going is driving the forecasters sideways, with the intense scrutinising of their every word they are like the royal advisors of old awaiting a swift punishment at any slight mistake. What used to just be called winter is now broken into days of up or down with eternal disection.

The reason for our title was a thought that began in the snowy darkness.

I have an deeply controlling side to me that I have fought to suppress and disarm for many years. Being a father can bring it out in ways that are not always good, and yet it is essential for consistency in matters of discipline. As my children are progressing through the years the requirements are changing and it is teaching me how to back off a little. Allowing them to squander money on junk while advising from the sidelines has been a challenge for my character at times.

Our collective culture today is one of control. We want to have control over everything in relation our lives, we are taught this continually in overt and surreptitious ways. Hollywood can create anything, they want snow in July, they make it happen. You want instant wealth? Here are ten ways to do it.

The massively disappointing part of all this is that we don’t actually have control of very much.

Yes we can take charge of our finances, but there must be a level of income that matches our lifestyle or there will be the inevitable crash. We can take control of our eating in order to become healthier, a report in today’s papers was claiming outrage at the sugar levels in coffee drinks and it’s link to obesity. Nobody forces us to drink these…it is not law!

Understanding that things are out of our control is a greatly freeing experience.

There is so much that I don’t need to worry about, people are being paid all over the place to have responsibility for government, terrorism, corporate, financial and countless other things that I don’t have a say in.

Fear and worry are induced by trying to control the things that I cannot, letting go of them is like finally accepting that I cannot make it snow for Christmas or summer any time.

The things in my world are in God’s hands, I put them there, and He is more than capable of dealing with them which allows me the freedom to focus on the things that I am responsible for.