Unique Viewpoints

Posted on January 11, 2015 by Margaret

As I write, a heavy snow is falling outside my windows, reminding me of winters past.

As a little girl growing up in the country (now the Chicago suburbs), a fresh snowfall was an invitation to come out and play. We had snowball fights, built snow forts, rolled snowmen, and deposited snowballs in a nearby creek where we watched them melt in the icy water.

We made snow-nests in a nearby field, then lay back comfortably to catch snowflakes on our tongues. If we were very quiet, we could even hear them land. The cold was never a problem, and we didn’t mind boots with snow packed around our ankles, or hands wet from soggy mittens.

I remember being so excited to play in the snow after school that I ran out with my dress still on, (in the ‘50’s, girls wore dresses), playing until the skirt became as soaked as Mom’s dish rag but not minding one bit. When she would ring the cowbell to call us home for dinner, we’d groan in disappointment that our snow-playtime had ended.

These days I don’t think about snow like that, because I’m in a different season: not a weather-season, but a life-season. Each weather-season has its purposes, and though I love to watch the snow fall, playing in it for hours has lost its appeal. I do appreciate today’s beautiful storm but only because I’m seeing it with different eyes.

The same can be said of life-seasons. God hopes we’ll see them with eyes appropriate to each one, never considering the spring of childhood or summer of young adulthood as better than the autumn and winter seasons of older ages. He has affixed positives to every season, and if we look with the right eyes, we’ll see them.

Today, if I lift heavy rolled balls of snow in an effort to build a big snowman, my back will complain about it the next day. But if I walk Jack the dog with the proper coat and boots on, we can both enjoy the winter snow.

Sometimes it’s difficult to accept the season we’re in. Children long to get older. Teens reach for adulthood. Older folks wish they were young again. But these off-center views are simply a function of looking with the wrong eyes.

As we age, physical limitations increase, but if we ask God to highlight the positives of whichever season we’re in, he will show us. And though winter snows can be hazardous, each individual snowflake remains one of God’s great marvels, unique in its created, symmetrical design.

And if we stop long enough to appreciate that, we might even hear them land.

“God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth….’ ” (Job 37:6-7)

Praising and Praying with Mary

Please pray for little Anders who is now over 5 pounds but has had a couple of set-backs. Pray for wisdom for the doctors as they make decisions.
I’m thankful still to be feeling good, this week on a getaway to Florida with Bervin.

Snow Angels

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Margaret

Remembering back to my first winter as a widow, 5 years ago:

As we watched a picture-perfect snowstorm out the window today, I was reminded of the snow-related care Nate put into action for our family. Before our teenage kids would drive away in a storm, he’d always check to be sure they had a snow scraper/brush in their cars, often brushing them off before they got out there. He would always clean my car off, and if his schedule allowed, would volunteer to drive me wherever I needed to go, if a storm was in progress.

Our extra-long driveway was a bear to shovel, but he did more than his share, and if he was short on time, he’d still shovel a path to each car door. He was faithful to check the windshield wiper fluid in the cars and to add more if needed.

We began thinking about buying a snow blower after shoveling that long driveway for 15 years. When a neighbor died and his widow offered to sell us his blower, Nate took her up on it. “But,” she said, “I’ll need someone to clear my driveway, too.”

That winter Nate began blowing snow off her driveway after every storm. He always did hers before ours, sometimes in his business suit and dress coat in the pre-dawn hours of a frigid weekday morning. Often he’d get hers finished but didn’t have time for ours, slipping and sliding away in his sedan on a rush to the commuter train.

I often think of Nate’s willingness to help this widow. Despite the major inconvenience of keeping her driveway clear, he never once complained about doing it. Since our neighbor had no one else to help her, he felt it was his duty to do so. The Bible says a great deal about widows, and God makes it clear he’s pleased with those who help them.

God was watching Nate blow the equivalent of mountains of snow off our friend’s driveway over the years, but I don’t believe Nate was ever aware of divine approval on those icy mornings. He was simply doing the right thing, which of course is often the hard thing.

Now I find I’m the widow needing help. When the first big snowfall arrived, I was rummaging around in the basement for a snow shovel when I heard the delightful roar of a snow blower. Running upstairs, I saw our next-door-neighbor Bob, pink-cheeked and dodging clouds of flying snow, clearing off the driveway. When I ran outside to express my enthusiasm, he smiled and said, “Well, those of us with blowers should help those who don’t have them.”

I’ll never forget the rush of feelings that came to me then. I flashed back to Nate’s faithful work on our neighbor’s driveway, coupled with deep gratitude for my current neighbor and his cheerful willingness to help the widow next door.

”Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? Those who… do what is right… Those who refuse to… harm their neighbors… and those who keep their promises, even when it hurts.” (Psalm 15:1-4, TLB)

Don’t forget.

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Margaret

A while ago Louisa and Birgitta were in reminiscing mode, harkening back to childhood and a certain Disney video they both remembered well. Since it had to do with Christmas, they decided to hunt for it in the basement, hoping to watch it.

They found it among the old VHS tapes: “A Walt Disney Christmas,” 6 classic cartoons from the 1930’s and 1940’s. I watched the girls as they watched the tape, enjoying their expressions and comments:

“Oh, I remember that skating couple when the ice cracked! Remember the poor children at the orphanage? And the stocking with the hole in it?”

As their favorite scenes appeared, they tried to recall how old they were when they’d memorized the details: the color of the ice, the lace on the pantaloons, the glow of a Christmas tree. All of it occurred for them more than half a lifetime ago.

Looking back at happy times is fun. It can also be instructive, and God wants us to make a practice of it. In the Old Testament he says, “Remember what the Lord did to Pharaoh and to Egypt. Remember how the Lord led you in the wilderness. Remember that the Lord redeemed you. Remember the days of old. Remember all the wonders he has done. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome. Remember the Lord’s great mercy and love.”

On and on his training-in-remembering goes as he coaxes us to look back. If he did great things for us “then,” he can do the great things “now.” His desire is for us to focus on his past capabilities rather than our circumstantial difficulties. When things aren’t going well, we tend to quickly slip into despair rather than count on him to come through, and reminding us of past victories is his way of lifting our sagging spirits.

Even better than our look back, though, is his: he never needs remembrance-prompting because he never forgets. When he makes a promise, he follows through. What he says he’ll do, he always does, without exception. God has never been into making excuses. Scripture says he “remembers his covenant, remembers us and blesses us, remembers us in our low estate” and many, many more. On and on his mindfulness goes, mindfulness of us.

If we were as mindful of him, our lives would be far less stressful and less cluttered with worry. Trusting God would be easier, and our faith in him would grow by leaps and bounds.

It’s enjoyable to remember a special Disney cartoon, but it’s even more meaningful to remember the real reason for all things Christmas: that Jesus was born as a human among us, because he remembered our need for a Savior.