The Good Table At Home: Living in the Cone

SF skyline, on a clear day, and then seen through fire smoke

Spiritual Touchstone

By Rev. Melinda McLain, Pastor for The Good Table UCC

As we continue to contend with wildfires in California and dreadful air quality locally, many beloveds are in the midst of a horrible hurricane season, including our regular Good Table UCC attendee, Dr. Lila Anderson who lives between Houston and Galveston, Texas.

Lila and I lived in the same residential college when we were students at Rice University in Houston back in the early 1980’s. She was a Gulf Coast local and “knew the drill” for hurricanes, but when hurricane Alicia hit Houston in 1983, it was my first experience with that sort of storm.

Growing up in the Texas panhandle in “tornado alley”, I was no stranger to violent weather, but the thunderstorms that spawn tornados tend to develop quickly and the damage happens rapidly, and then you clean up. The same is true for earthquakes: they happen without warning, last for a very short period of time, and then you clean up.

Hurricanes, on the other hand, develop slowly at some distance, and so there is an interminable waiting period when meteorologists try and predict where the storm will make landfall and with what force so that coastal residents can prepare to ride out the storm and/or evacuate. If you’ve been following the tracks of hurricanes Marco and Laura through the Gulf of Mexico the past few days, you no doubt have heard meteorologists talk about the “cone of uncertainty” as they show an elongated balloon shape on the map outlining the probable path of a given storm.

This hurricane tracking tool has since been applied to project management processes (especially in software development) in order to manage expectations for a client, while taking into account the rapidly changing business environment.

Right now, our project to create The Good Table has been reducing the cone of uncertainty and increasing the cone of probability that we will actually begin construction by the end of the year, and perhaps even in October! This is very good news, indeed, although we still have to work through the uncertainties of getting a building permit in September.

At the same time, living through these catastrophic wildfires and super smoky air is an exercise in living with the cone of uncertainty every day — everything from not knowing if our homes will survive to wondering if we can do something as simple as walk the dog, given the wind direction and air quality index numbers.

Personally, I don’t enjoy living in so much uncertainty and chaos and I think most folks find it stressful. Plus, as our climate continues to rapidly change, we will experience more wildfires, extended droughts, and strong hurricanes extending the cone of uncertainty for disaster-free living for longer periods each year.

Fortunately, we are not simply at the mercy of mathematical models to manage our ability to thrive in chaos. We can, through spiritual practices such as meditation and prayer, learn to calm down and be at peace, even in the midst of raging storms and fires. We can also become more resilient by being connected to one another in community through civic groups, faith communities, or through projects like The Good Table.

What helps you thrive in times of uncertainty? How do you stay connected to your neighbors and community? What are you doing to improve our community’s resiliency? Would you like to learn more? Click here.