The Climes of North and South
Leviticus 26:2-4 You shall keep My sabbaths, and reverence My sanctuary: If I am the Lord. If you walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them; then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
Ecclesiastes 3:1,2 To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven; a time to be born, and a time to die.
Isaiah 55:9-11 As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Over the years, many persons have mentioned poor weather to me; and occasionally I have agreed. Certainly, as an adult I no longer enjoyed the winters I had grown up with; they seemed to last far too LONG. All looked dismal to me with no leaves on the trees, and lots of gray and slush covered roads. It did not take long for the dirt of the roads to cover the roadsides with dark mud, making it all look dirty and nasty. The fall colors were brilliant with the bright reds, yellows as the leaves on the trees changed. But all too soon they fell off the trees, and the beautiful color turned all browns, with stark dark trunks and limbs reaching up, making all look forlorn and almost scary. And it lasted from early October through mid-April, and by the time I was an adult, I liked the cold sports less and less.
I was blessed with an opportunity to live in Germany for several years. Occasionally while working at the clinic, one of the patients would complain of the weather. Although there were a few gray days, I found the weather more enjoyable and pretty. Certainly, we got a lot of snow, but the Germans enjoy doing outside walks, sharing coffee in an afternoon, and attending to separate shops for butcher, bakery, and other specialty shops.
We were transferred to North Carolina in January of 2000. Again, many people commented to us about the “awful weather here,” or “it’s NC, wait five minutes and the weather will change.” I did not find this to be true. Maybe, I was not aware of so much poor weather, turning a blind eye to it. with the arrival of 2017, I decided to test that and to record the weather daily. In all honesty, the weather is good to excellent here, 92% of the time. I am convinced it is one of God’s blessings. I save the calendars in case you doubt!!
I am now recording the weather for the fifth year. Certainly it is not wonderful every day, but nor is it dreadful, gray, and long lasting poor weather for the majority of days. I find the majority of days are mostly good even if some are partly cloudy and gray, there is some sunshine and the temperatures are warmer than in New England. Sure, we occasionally gray, cold, dreary days, but that is not what we normally have, even in winter. And when the winter days are raw and bleak, I have only to remember our winter season seems much shorter. Traditionally we are not into very cold days until mid-November, and by mid-March I am making trips to the flower shops and starting to plant bursts of color. It is sometimes too soon, and I lose one or two of my plantings, but this is much more satisfying weather-wise for me to be in warmer temperatures, mostly blue skies even without lots of sun, then the early sprouting of white blossoms and then the Bartlett Pear trees burst into pale green leaves. Within a short while forsythia and azaleas burst out in colors, and Spring has sprung into being
For me, the winters are lovely here. We may get a rare and, therefore more beautiful, snowstorm; many of the bushes retain their green leaves throughout most of the season, the weather, although occasionally damp, is more temperate. It is not as though we do not get very cold temperatures, but generally they stay mostly in the 40’s and 50’s. Yes, we get some biting and damp winds, but temperatures are more temperate. The sun shines about forty minutes longer than in New England. Dusk is beginning about 4:30 in the afternoons there, and we bid adieu to the sun about 4:55; sunrise closer to 7:30 in the morning. Such a decrease in sunlight was a pall for me to endure when living in New England. I find winters much more tolerable in North Carolina than in the darker clime of New England.
I feel blessed that God led us to be transferred to this area. He knew the exact climate that would be best for my husband and myself. So I thank You daily and always, my God, for all of my blessings and for ‘mybellaviews.’
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