Microclime

I have recently learned the term 'microclime.'

A microclime is a small cloud of weather that is independent from the weather around it. It stands alone, amidst the weather, yet apart.

There is a place in the mountains near me, a climb to higher altitudes, where a hot spring flows into the water of glacial run-off. It produces a small pool of 88 degrees in the middle of a river that is 38 degrees. Beautifully warm water, ten feet away from temperatures so frigid that one could freeze to death.

Literally.

In the middle of a blizzard, snow cannot come near this cloud of warmth. This place is too warm, too protected. The elements come nowhere near.

There is a place in Europe where the sun reflects across the valley, a sacred place where winter never comes. The farmers plant another crop in the winter months, while the land is lush and the air is warm, while the rest of the world is frozen.

This valley is protected from anything that happens around it. The elements of danger can come nowhere near.

Protected. Sacred. Set apart.

***

God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear,

though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her,

she will not fall;

God will help her at break of day.

Psalm 46:1-5

***

There is within me a microclime,

a city of God,

a river whose streams bring gladness.

The holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within me. I will not fall.

He helps me at the break of day.

My heart is protected. Sacred. Set apart.

The elements may come nowhere near.

He helps me at the break of day.

Every day.