There’s something calming about a snowfall even when you have to go out and shovel. It’s quiet because there’s less traffic even after the plow has made the street passable. The birds in the branches are chirping away as I put out the birdseed and chase the squirrel away from the so-called squirrel proof feeder. I guess they need to eat, too.
The snow coming down embraces you and makes you aware that there are forces beyond your control. Yesterday’s snow was a soft, powdery snow, easy to move. The tracks of the feral cat were on the deck so I cleared away a path to the food under the bench.
When the sun finally breaks through the clouds the beauty of the earth covered in mounds of crisp white snow can be overwhelming. Snowy days that break your routine can be like moments of grace, unexpected, sometimes disconcerting, but important in our lives.
Prayer for the Day
You grace our lives with beauty, O God, opening our eyes,
Displaying your creation in even the smallest snowflake;
May we stop for a moment to experience your embrace
Opening us to possibilities we never even imagined;
Enlarge the boundaries of our thought and imagination,
As we find moments of unexpected grace.
In the name of the One who walks with us,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields that it kisses them so gently? And covers them up so snug, you know, with a white quilt, and perhaps it says, “Go to sleep, darlings, til the summer comes again.”
- Lewis Carroll, English novelist (1832-1898)
Snow brings a special quality with it – the power to stop life as you it dead in its tracks.
- Nancy Hatch Woodward, American teacher and writer
Praise the Lord, sun and moon; praise God, all you shining stars!
Praise God, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!
Let them praise the name o the Lord, fo God commanded and they were created,
God establisehd them forever and ever, fixing their bounds, which cannot be passed.
Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps,
Fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling God’s command!
Psalm 148: 3-8