The Gravity of Warmth

I’m my mother’s son, and therefore early is on time, and on time is late. One frosty morning, I needed to take a train up to New York so I waited in my car with the heat on as long as I could before the panic of missing my train set in and I hurried to the platform. This was, mind you, 20 minutes before the train was due to arrive.

As I stood on the platform early, though underdressed, I noticed a little booth where two heat lamps were warming another over-eager passenger. She stood under one heat lamp, and I took the other. As the time when normal people arrived drew closer, more people arrived on the platform and noticed our oasis of warmth. The lamps weren’t large and strangers started coming in closer to join us.

Soon, conversations began, and two little communities immediately sprang up under the heaters. In one village, a woman said she was going to the city to find a mother-of-the-bride dress for her daughter’s wedding. That kicked off an excited flurry of suggestions and stories from the mostly female crowd. In my tiny cohort, a young couple with a cute baby understandably took center stage under the heat as we all took turns making silly faces and playing peekaboo.

As the train pulled up and we all dispersed, I couldn’t help but reflect on just how quickly strangers warmed up to each other when they were given warmth in the cold. It made me grateful for the capacity to build community that God gives us, and for all the chances I’ve been able to see how quickly the warmth of a shared faith bring parishes and groups to grow deep and wide. Everyone on that train platform experienced the single source of our unity. As a leader and a disciple, how do I call others to get closer under the warmth of our Source and Summit of our life?

As we continue to struggle through this cold season, let’s remember that God loves us so much that He gave us His only Son and each other to keep warm.