Snow Days

Snow days, the joy of every Northern child's winter. You'd lie in bed with the radio tuned to the local talk station, waiting while they droned on about storm snow totals and driving conditions, heart aflutter and pulse racing as they finally got to the school closing list.

'The list'. If we had known the magic code number to call in our school most of us would have been making up time in July, but as it was, we simply had to hope for the best. Or the worst, as in worst driving conditions, worst possible forecast, worst case scenario for getting kids to and from school safely, etc. The announcers would read 'the list', alphabetical of course, and it was either time to roll over and go back to sleep with a wildly joyous heart, or to listen for the next reading, hoping against hope that our school was just a little late calling this one in or the radio station messed up the order and we were just out of turn.

After the second 'no show' we'd angrily get dressed and bundle up against the frigid winds, trudging through mountains of snow to the bus stop firmly convinced that the officials at our school cared nothing for our safety and were only concerned with the lost state aid that a snow day might cause. We could not even find it in our hearts to applaud our luckier peers as they luxuriated in bed and lolled the day away while we hunkered down for our classes.

We did, however, feel ourselves superior to them in many ways because; a. we were the intrepid travelers braving the storm for our education and b. we would be at least one day smarter than all those dopes staying home playing video games, sipping hot chocolate and playing in the snow.

Sour grapes to be sure, but what else did we have?

God uses everything

Just a quick note based on recent events in my life. You've probably noticed that the longer you live, the more you see how God uses absolutely everything from your past to help you with whatever you're doing today. Any job you've ever held, any hobbies, sports, things you loved to do, really any experience you've had will come in handy at some point in your life. This includes hopes and dreams you thought you'd outgrown or left behind, painful moments from your past that looked like they could damage you for all time, people you've interacted with and learned from . . . all of it can and probably will become part of your current life in a wonderful and positive way that could only be the hand of God. You shake your head and smile inside when you realize it. And that's the fun part, the recognition when you're in the moment, the acknowledgment of how amazing He is when you see your past experiences coming into play today, helping you do whatever you need to do. You're in awe that He doesn't forget anything except that which He chooses to forget. That 'aha' moment gives me another reason to be thankful, as if simply waking up this morning and seeing the sun wasn't enough.



A recent example to follow soon . . . trying to learn the art of writing bite-sized posts.