Tag: snow

Snow

In this 24 x 7 world, there are still a few events that can interrupt the hectic pace of life, and do so in a nice way.

shoveling.JPGThe latest winter storm moved through New England last night and this morning. The flakes started falling well after dark, sometime after 9 pm, and continued through most of this morning. We awoke to six or so inches on the ground and a steady snowfall, causing us to rethink our plans for the day. The morning service at church was cancelled, I deferred my trip to Peterborough, and Lori called off her drive to Manchester.

By this afternoon the sun will be out, the driveways and walkways shoveled, the streets and highways plowed. The unrelenting pace of life will resume.

This morning, though, for a few hours, we enjoyed a pause, unexpected and unplanned time for reflecting (and a blog post), dawdling over the paper, and catching up on a few untended items around the house.

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Meditation on snow

Backyard draped in snowWith the second storm in three days upon us, we decided to forgo church this morning.

As the snow fell outside, our family gathered in the living room, lit a chalice, and shared contemplative readings. Despite our frenzied holiday schedules, complicated by the weather of the past two weeks, we captured a few moments of quiet togetherness.

One of two readings I shared was part of the poem Valentine, written by Elizabeth Tarbox, from the collected meditations What We Share. Her reflection is so appropriate for today’s storm and this first day of winter.

“Creation gives us snow.

“Lest we imagine beauty was only for summer, or trees for leafing; just in case we thought cold was for winter or, at best, firesides or pots of pea soup, creation gives us snow.

“Creation outlines each slender twig with snow, a flake at a time. With divine patience, winter writes a character, a syllable, a word, until nature’s grace is there on every tenacious surface.”

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