The sea was angry tonight. It's the only way to describe it. Even before the sun set, the sky was dark and the clouds glowering, the sea flinging itself against the rocks over and over and over, the wind howling and whipping the slightest thing round. I even saw seashells on my path, and looked down ten feet or so to the sea, realising that the wind and water had flung them so high that they landed clear out of the beach.I was in Helensburgh today, dropped by Your Wedding Consultant where they were celebrating their first year in business! Congrats to them! The drive was pretty wild - blinding rain and rapidly moving windscreen wipers all the way. I stopped by the shop for an hour or so and when I came out, the weather if possible had gotten worse. My rain jacket (with hood) was zipped up tight, but even still I had to keep my head bowed pretty far down and the rain was literally beating on me, trying to find every little dry nook and cranny, its goal to make me as wet and miserable as possible. I actually considered giving up on my walk today. This was by far the worst weather I'd seen (worse even than heavy blizzarding snow, because at least snow is slightly less wet than rain), and the thought of setting off on the path by the raging sea with the intent of spending more time, not less, in these elements was incredibly daunting.
As mentioned, the sea was angry. And yet after only a few minutes of walking I felt incredibly happy, more 'alive' than I have felt in a while. Why is that, I thought? What is it about this kind of wild, crazy, difficult weather that makes me come alive? Because whilst I love being curled up in my big warm bed with a cup of hot green tea and a favourite book, that's not an 'alive' feeling. It's the fight, I think. The battle against something. The alone-ness, too: with weather like this, no one is out for a nightly stroll on the sea path except me. It's me and the elements, and they are not winning. Because life is a fight. It's a pretty darn hard one some days. And for those who see the unseen, we know we're in a spiritual battle too. There are angels and demons all around. There are opportunities to shine - and opportunities to fail and collapse and give up and lose. Even the slightest decisions have eternal consequences, and some days all I want to do is curl up in bed and stay warm all day long and not have to fight at all. Or try. Or work (even at something I love doing). This morning I briefly considered doing that - staying in my warm cosy bed all day - but this blog was another reason I got out of bed. I knew I'd have to go forth in that weather anyway, so I may as well do it earlier as later. So, I fought today. I fought the elements, and then I went to prayer-meeting tonight at church and fought against the armies of darkness. And I came home and fought them again when I felt like just eating too much and watching tv shows and giving up on all the things I know I need to do so that tomorrow will truly be a day of rest.
I passed a few - a very few - people on my walk today. One was a man walking his dog, and as I came up to him I thought, how funny would that be if I just said 'Nice day!' as though it was sunny and warm. So I did. I was so thrilled with being out in the fight that I greeted him with joy and I think he would have fallen over if the wind wasn't pushing him the other way. He went blank, had absolutely nothing to say. The next person I passed was a lady, so I tried again. "Lovely day!" I said, and unfortunately due to the wind I am not sure whether she said "Yes isn't it wonderful!" or 'isn't it dreadful!' I chose to believe the former - her eyes were sparkling and she was smiling and, I think, she was fighting too.
Walk length: 1 hour
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