I woke up early this morning, like 7:00 early. The snow outside my window, to my amazement, was still there.
I love snow. I love to see it fall. I love to drive in it when it is falling. I love to walk outside in it. I’ve never been one to love to play in it though. Even as a kid, I just wanted to go outside and walk around in it.
This morning, after waking up so early, I decided to get bundled up and walk around outside. It was beautiful. The sun was just rising and there was enough snow to cover my rain boots when I walked. My apartment building backs up to a drainage pond or something of the sort that is filled with trees. They were all covered. I took tons of pictures and enjoyed every minute of it.
When I came back in I realized why I love snow so much, even if I don’t like to play in it. Everything gets so peaceful and quiet when it snows. I know this is not true for anywhere other than the south, but everything and everyone just stops. The busyness of having to do this and having to go there is forgotten. No one drives. We stay inside and play games or watch tv to warm up a little but then go outside and enjoy the snow with kids and neighbors. Kids actually go outside to play instead of playing video games.
In Psalm 46:10, the Lord says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” It’s kind of silly but profound to me all at the same time that God has to make something like a huge snow come our way for us as a community to be still, to put away all the distractions and to put away all the thoughts of the busy life and be still in awe of His creation.
I love that and I love the quietness. I want to learn how to be still and quiet in all the noise in this life. Suggestions?
HAHA – you are correct – only in the south does everything stop when it snows. But, even in the north, for the first couple hours of a big snowfall, things slow down. Not necessarily stop, but definitely slow down.
And I do have a suggestion for you. A couple weeks back, a girl from church here led bible study. She used one of Rob Bell’s Nooma videos – it’s called “Noise”. It’s not like the rest of his videos (in case you’ve ever seen any) and it really made us all think. Our challenge for that week was to try to be quiet and cancel out some noise (whether audio or not) in our lives. It was a tough, but rewarding challenge.
So, go to “Nooma.com”. Then click on “Noise 005″‘s picture on the main page. Then click on “Flannel” in the bottom right hand corner on the next screen. Then click on the “Player” link at the top. Then click on “Free Tickets”. Then at the bottom of the world map click “Get a Free Ticket”. Then reclick “Noise 005″ at the bottom and then when it comes up click “Watch this film”. (Or you can just go to Itunes and pay to watch it. I just gave you the freebie way to do it.)
Enjoy!