Weather or Not . . .

Already it's started. If I look outside, I can see the snow coming down. At this point I've lost track of how many snowstorms we've had since December (or earlier?), but it's been several years since we've had so much snow. At first, it was kinda cool. It reminded me of my own childhood. So when we got wolloped around New Year's, it was actually sort of exciting, especially for my little girl.

But then it never stopped.

And what I find the most inconvenient and annoying about it all is that lots of stuff ends up getting cancelled or postponed. Sunday school gets cancelled (actually, considering we were up all night with our daughter, that worked for me -- see previous post), business meetings and church suppers get postponed, and you have to dig yourself out of an avalanche before you can get the car out of the driveway and send your wife and child to their doctor's appointment, because you forgot that your regular plowman is away. That was fun.

So you just can't depend on any plans you've made. That's the biggest problem. Every time you schedule an event or have an appointment, you have to consider a possible snow date. Just in case. The question is always weather or not we'll be able to go forward with whatever is on the calendar.

A couple of days ago at our church business meeting I happened to mention that we were supposed to get lots of snow today (and freezing rain, incidentally). The person to whom I said this gave me a rather cold stare since I was the bearer of obviously bad news--and then she told that I should be praying that God would keep us from getting a storm! Well, I didn't. And now it's snowing. But as I said then, God, in his infinitely wise sovereignty, might have his reasons for sending us even more snow. And besides, I rarely pray about weather unless I'm praying for travelling safety for someone.

So while at the beginning of all this snow, I was gleeful and glad, because I like it when the seasons of the year are actually like the seasons of the year, I'm pretty sure we've had more than our share of winter. I'm now looking forward to the thaw. I'm looking forward to being able to put away the shovel. And I'm looking forward not to have to cancel or postpone things because of the snow. I'm looking forward to spring--to the emergence of new life, longer days, and warmer weather. Weather or not it'll come soon, I guess I just have to wait and see.