It was a late Saturday night. I was on a working break with a friend in Finland. Amid speaking engagements and writing, it was an experiential introduction to the country and culture.
Fortunately, we had guides. There was an instruction to walk freely through the forest and on the water’s edge without fear of property lines (just remember to be respectful and close the gates securely behind you). It is beautiful during the fall. Another instruction was to open our palates to the joys of hand-picked cloudberry jam from north of the arctic circle. The peat moss tundra still lingers in my mind taste memories.
Under a dark fall sky, with temperatures below freezing, we were invited to experience our first sauna. My guide was helpful and prescriptive. We came with towels and swimsuits. With a gentle word, we were instructed to approach this the Finnish way with swimsuits left outside.
In the darkness, I could smell the birch oil as I listened to the apologies that this was not a smoke sauna. They did have the cut birch branches soaking in cold water for when my body overheated. As we talked about the joys of life, family, and the future, the heat began to work on everyone. Sweat, a bit of steam from the water on the rocks, and the gentle thrashing of birch leaves on my skin, leaving a soothing oil to rejuvenate my skin.
As the heat began to overwhelm, my guide prepared me for the final sauna steps. We walked out of the sauna to the dock’s edge. It was time to take a leap of faith into the darkness and icy cold salty water. When one has reached the end of the heat, the cold will set everything right.
In the cycle repeated yesterday, I relived Paul’s note. “If death got the upper hand through one man’s wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man, Jesus Christ, provides?” (Romans 5.17)
