Blizzard!

"God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’ So that all men he has made may know his work, he stops every man from his labor. " Job 37:5-7

 

Blizzard warnings build excitement. Like a little kid, I ready my mittens, scarf and hat and dig out my snow pants from the front closet. With gas tanks topped off, the snow blower in place and shovels standing ready by the back door, I start pacing the floors keeping watch for the very first flakes.

There's something magic about snow -the way it falls and piles and drifts and blankets silence upon the ground.

I awake the next morning, like a child anticipating Christmas Day surprises, and peer outside at virgin ground - void of foot prints, tire tracks, and sound. I want to fling open the windows and breathe it all in - the freshness of new fallen snow. It begs a slow start; a reveling in God's wonder and glorious artwork, indeed.

If only we could relish its silence for more than a few hours or a day. That would truly be heaven for me. Isn't that what it means to find heaven on earth? Slowing...stopping...noticing God's miraculous deeds all around us.

So, I dive into waist-high snow and before life starts her constant humming, I find God all around me:

Mama cardinal chirps "good morning"; nature's voice rising, greeting the day, giving thanks for God's protection through the storm.

Glorious midday sun parts the clouds and paints Sky Blue across the heavens.

Neighbors emerge from winter's slumber offering help, encouragement, and much needed muscle. Community forms all around town. Isn't that how we're called to live? Together, not isolated.

After hours of shoveling, lifting and blowing many curse the snow - the forcing of slow - but I revel in it. It places control back in God's hands and sets my mind in awe and wonder of His powerful deeds.

Day #2 post-blizzard we're only now seeing plows arrive in our neighborhood and honestly, it saddens me. As inconvenient as this storm has been to our modern lifestyle, I've loved the pace. It's forced me to readjust life's priorities and given me time to think and serve and play and most of all to find God.

What about you? When life causes you to pause, what do you do?