Silent Night

The world is terrifying. The world is beautiful.

Back in 2022 West Michigan was slammed with a blizzard. Power was out for days. People died from the below zero temperatures. Businesses shut down. Schools shut down. Some homes had drifts up to the roof line. Roads were impassable. At times the snow dropped straight down in heaps. Sometimes it cut sideways with astonishing speed and slant that painfully bit the cheeks.

I always seem drawn to wandering into such weather. I don’t know why. Most prefer the warmth of snuggling up to a crackling fire. But I like to feel nature’s fury fully on my face. To know that I can enter it and remain on my feet and keep moving forward is some kind of internal reminder I suppose.

During that days-long blizzard I bundled up, strapped on my snow shoes and wandered the back forty several times, nearly freezing my fingers off to capture both its fury and fantasia with my camera.

Back in the warmth of my writing shed with the wind whipping against the windows and snow trying to beat the doors down, I sung a homemade recording of Silent Night, accompanied by my flimsy guitar fingers, and then I mashed it together with the storm images.

Something about it made sense to me. The smothering destruction. The astounding beauty. Maintaining a sense of inner calm and quiet in the midst of raging weather.

The world can take our breath away with both its cruelty and its compassion. In this world we will stand and press on. In this world we will not be afraid.

All images @2024 Christy Berghoef. Any copying, usage or reproduction requires owner consent.