Befriend the cold

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Francis Gonsalves [1]

A guru was huddled around a bonfire with his disciples complaining about the cold. Echoing the guru’s teaching, the brightest of the lot said, “On a freezing day I know exactly what to do.” “What?” asked the others. “Keep warm!” he chirped, and continued, “And, if that’s not possible, I still know what to do.” “What?” Smiling, he said, “Freeze.”

Northerners are braving one of the severest winters in recent memory. Gone are the joggers whom I bump into as I hurry up the Ridge. But, there’s Satpal who dutifully sweeps the streets defying the cold. And, when I feel like complaining about the cold, the pavement dwellers draw me into silence.
In times without air-conditioners and heaters, biblical authors view temperature as an uncontrollable force. Without precise measuring instruments their descriptions of temperature are limited to broad terms like “hot” and “cold”.
It’s presumed that God alone controls weather. God promises Noah: “As long as the earth endures, cold and heat, summer and winter, shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22).
Because God controls temperature and we are its helpless victims, exposure to elements is a frequent metaphor for hardships of life. Jacob complains to Laban, “By day the heat consumed me and the cold by night” (Genesis 31:40). However, the godly are responsible to warm those exposed to the cold. “The naked, who have no covering in the cold,” the devout Job asserts, “were warmed by the fleece of my sheep” (Job 24:7; 31:20).
Freezing temperatures could be occasions to reach out to those in need. Apostle James asks, “If a brother or sister is naked and you say, ‘Go in peace, keep warm and eat your fill’, of what good is
that?” (James 2:15-16). He adds: “Faith without works is dead” (2:17).
Cold isn’t just a natural phenomenon; it also shows spiritual indifferentism. Jesus cautions us about being tepid: “You are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot” (Revelation 3:15). Lukewarm believers are fence-sitters who never take bold decisions. Their lives are insipid and unproductive.
The spiritual life requires constancy whether it blows hot or cold, rains or snows. A fearful devotee prayed to God not to send rain. When it did, indeed, rain, he changed his God. He should’ve changed his beliefs.
We cannot control or change the weather. Yet, we often complain. Someone said, “As a rule man is a fool; when it’s cool he wants it hot; when it’s hot he wants it cool; always wanting what is not.”
Let mother earth run her cycles. Befriend the cold. Stay warm with love; and, if that doesn’t work, I still know what to do: go out into the cold to warm someone else.

Francis Gonsalves is the principal of the Vidyajyoti College of Theology, Delhi.