Yes, Virginia, it does cool down in Rio

When it’s 110 degrees in January and I feel like I might just die from the heat, I sometimes wonder if I will even feel normal again. I have the sensation that I will be hot and miserable forever. Yet, summer does leave us. It’s sort of the same sensation Canadians have in January – except they wonder if the cold will ever go away. Well it does warm up in Canada (most years, anyway) and it does cool down in Rio (most years anyway). Very often the coolest weather is in the month of May (but it can me stinking hot in May also). This year has been quite rainy and this week in particular the weather promises to cool down a lot. In our car we have the thermostat set to 21 (70) degrees and yesterday the heat kicked on. That should have been a “sign”, but we didn’t pay that much attention.

Last night I had a hard time getting to sleep, as my feet were cold. Why didn’t I get up and put on socks? Long story. Short version is that my back is kaput with an inflamed nerve and it was just too painful to get out of bed, walk to my room (I am sleeping on a harder mattress in another room) and then try to bend over to get the socks and put them on. Today, however, my back is starting to feel better and you can be sure I have on socks. In addition to long pants. I even made hot chocolate (a rare treat here) and have a space heater turned on low to warm up my nose and hands. It’s not all that cold, actually, it’s about 65 or so, but our apartment is drafty (which is lovely when it’s hot) and I think my body has become accustomed to the continually hot weather here.

Trust me I am NOT complaining. I am enjoying the weather. Today, in my art class, everyone was complaining about their feet being cold and most people had on boots. I looked down at my sandals and realized that yeah my feet were chilly, but it wasn’t bothering me at all. I actually felt awake and alive. It can get too cold for me, but I love nothing better than being able to actually sleep under covers and drink warm beverages. I so look forward to this time of year in Rio. Probably from now until about October or so the weather won’t be too hot, at least by our standards. Anything under about 85 (29) is good.

I wasn’t sure how I’d do in art class today, since I have been limping around and having quite a bit of discomfort, but the chairs are great there and I did fine. I started painting the pink iris that I sketched last week. I decided to just let it rip. My teacher says I have a frenetic style – I just go whole hog! So I pretty well covered the page with water and then started dropping in paint in a very loose kind of style. It was fun. Of course, to me it’s always fun when I start the painting. The hard part comes in putting in the details by applying multiple layers. The first stage shows dramatic results, since you are starting with a white piece of paper. From here on out, it’s lots of hours of work, but others don’t see a lot of change, because they are tiny steps. In case you have forgotten the original photo, here it is.

Actually the whole process reminds me of our Christian life. Our salvation is such a dramatic moment, and such a huge change happens in our life, it’s like this beginning stage. Wow, just look at how much of the design you can see. Yet, as we begin to grow (the process of sanctification), we see how long it will take and what a process it is of “working out our salvation” to become like our “model”, Jesus Christ. So we mustn’t lose heart, but just keep looking at Christ, who is our standard, our model of how we should look. We all have a long way to go, don’t we until we attain “mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13)? Just like I have to keep the photograph continually before me so I don’t get lost in the painting, so we must always have our eyes focused on Jesus.