I'm sitting inside my (thankfully) warm little house, watching the world outside through my picture window--and someone shook my snow-globe! Hard! It has been snowing here since last night, and it isn't supposed to let up until tomorrow morning. Already 15 inches are on the ground,with 3-7 more predicted overnight.
I love snow. It's beautiful at almost any level, from blanketing cover to microscopic crystal. It encourages us to stay in and take a slower pace (my sympathies to those who have to be out in it). It's quiet. It's gentle, even at its heaviest (as long as you don't factor in blowing winds).
My dear husband and son just returned from cross-country skiing (the first time ever for my son). They're going back out to sled now! Delighting in winter games--very, very good.
Snow is also, sometimes, overwhelming. You can't escape it, except indoors, and it covers everything. Even shoveling doesn't clear the path for long, during a storm.
It's a lot like life.
There's so much in my life that demands attention, control, creativity, energy, thought, that I simply can't manage it all. Emotions run high, panic or discouragement set in, and I feel snowed. I'm challenged to step back far enough to see the beauty in it, to treasure the purity of childhood, the joy of love, the exhuberence of a boy. Shoveling for all I'm worth doesn't seem to make a difference for long, and it's not always easy to look up from the path, and delight in the effect across my entire visible world.
I feel the need to be still. The proverbial cup of hot cocoa, good book and fireplace are perfect foils for drifting snow. What is it for drifting life-circumstances? Sabbath, I think. A day we are commanded to be still, to take that step back, to read a good book or revel in relationships, without the pressures of daily responsibilities.
I need to renew my sense of joy, my awareness of beauty. I need to reconnect my heart with that of the Father, and of my nearest and dearest. And so I take this time, with gratitude that I am commanded to do so (if I were not, I would never allow myself this privilege). For the next 24 hours, I can sit and look through the picture window of life, nestle down into precious words, snuggle up with my honeys, and feel the warmth of His presence thawing my frozen heart.
Snow on, O world, snow on.
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