Good snow is a fine blessing

I’m glad I live in a place where we have seasons. I’m not sure I could lock in my vote for a favorite. Each one features uniquely delightful gifts from the God who gives us all seasons.

About the only weather feature that I appreciate not at all is wind. Gentle breezes are wonderful; gales combined with the land of nearby counties are not.

I’m particularly fond of winter. I love fireplaces and hot drinks, sweaters and good books, and I agree with the guy who said that nothing in all of nature tops the beauty of the world all wrapped up in a blanket of snow.

As I write this morning, it is cold outside—18 degrees. A silvery fog hovers low and a bit of white frost mixed with a little attempt at snow has dusted the ground and the trees. Occasionally a few feeble snowflakes float groundward.

We’re in serious need of moisture. Any kind. But I vote for snow. About two feet.

I love where I live and have almost 24 years in residence to prove it. But I’ve always been a tad disappointed in our snows which are generally on the wimpy side. For the last couple of years, the snows have been few and pathetic.

Global warming? Not unless the hot air from “the sky is falling” media and Al Gore have really ramped things up.

We can usually count on at least one really good snow a year. I remember one fine year complete with a scary snow-dragon in the front yard and a great snowball fight down at the park. But last year, almost nothing. And nothing yet this year.

So, we’re overdue for some back snowfall. Two feet would shut things down delightfully. For at least a couple of days, folks might lay eyes on their families, eat a meal together, play a game together, watch a good movie together. A lot of the dreary busy-ness that we call life but which really gets in the way of life would be mercifully curtailed for ten minutes.

We need some snow! Not all the most important education happens in school. We’ve got kids living in our town who haven’t fashioned and thrown a snowball in two years! In my book, that’s an educational crisis!

And, hey, I’m a pastor, and I love it when God’s people come together to worship. But a “snowed out” Sunday once a year or so is good for us. It won’t matter a whit to the folks whose attendance and giving is wimpier than our snows. And unless we’re bean counting legalists mistakenly afraid that missing one Sunday, even if God snows us out himself, could conceivably leave our “card” one short of some required number for salvation and result in eternal inconvenience of the worst sort—well, faithful folks will make up their offering, come back to church the next week, and we’ll get a worthwhile reminder that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.

Ah, the blessing of snow!