Upwelling: Let It Blow, Let It Go

Upwelling: Let It Blow, Let It Go

 

Hallelujah!  We’re freezing here in Monterey because the spring upwelling winds have arrived, blowing cold and from the north – dinner is served!  I keep singing that song from Frozen.

In only five places in the world, including Central California, an ocean phenomenon called upwelling each spring lifts to the surface cold nutrient-rich water from far down in the deep.   All the plants and animals rejoice, some traveling from far and wide to reap the harvest.  90% of all commercial fishing happens in these five upwelling areas.  You should see all the humpbacks who have arrived this week for dinner.

I first learned about upwelling in my required marine biology class to become a volunteer guide at the Monterey Bay Aquarium 21 years ago.  They taught us that in the spring the ocean winds shift from out of the west to the north, blowing the surface water south and away.  From down in the deep, the ocean current conveyor belt that moves water throughout the globe, sometimes staying down deep for decades before hitting a west coast in the spring, from long ago and far away, upwells water packed with nutrients. But not every spring – El Nino years, and maybe climate change mean that some years, no upwelling, no dinner.

I sat there in that class and thought, what a metaphor for the Holy Spirit in our lives – from the depths, from far away and long ago, if we let our surface be blown away, we too will be fed by this upwelling spirit.   But it is a gift, nothing we can order up, we must be open and wait.  That insight led to my calling to do this Blue Theology Ministry.

Let it blow, cold spring winds. 

Let it go, deep cold waters. 

Go and sow the burgeoning kelp, the teeming fish, the hungry whales.

Show and grow and bestow from below that this slow cold flow will bring no woe.

We know if we let the Spirit blow, if we look to the deep and let it go go go, we will all be nourished from below.

The cold never bothered me anyway. 

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Come and Sea!  Blue Theology service trips and pilgrimages for all ages on Monterey Bay.  Bluetheology.com. I post these devotionals every Wednesday here and on Facebook.