Some Like It Cold

All the while, I thought of people living in arctic regions. Newfoundland gets up to 131 inches of snow a year. In Siberia, temps can drop to -67°. Norway’s winter night lasts from November to January.

God gives hummingbirds and butterflies the sense to fly south for the winter. Why would humans settle in frigid areas?

Then I recalled that I once lived in places torrid enough to bake cookies on car hoods or scorch fingers on door handles. Yet on blazing summer days, we cranked up the A/C, and in the evenings, we gathered on porches, holding glasses of tea bedazzled with condensation, the breeze our reward for enduring the heat-laden day.

Frigid Norway is regularly listed as one of the happiest places on earth. The people pull on layers of wool, light candles, and enjoy winter sports. Children even wear reflective vests to frolic on the dark days. Turns out, some people enjoy the invigorating challenges of the cold.

Humans fill the earth, adapting our lifestyles to its varied environments and sharing community, regardless of temperature. We don’t abandon harsh places, but we deem them worthy to be inhabited—just as the Creator formed them to be.