Friday, February 14, 2014

Snow Day


Snow days are good for many things;  Catching up on TV shows that have been DVRd for a whole year, cleaning house, cleaning out closets, catching up on thoughts, and yes perhaps even shoveling some snow.  Prednisone once again has by body and yes my mind held hostage.   My sugar is up because of it, I take a fluid pill now because of it, I have to watch every bite that goes in my mouth, and yeast has overwhelmed me not to mention what it does to my mental state and emotions.   Did I mention I hate prednisone?    Although in its defense I can get out of bed, walk through the house, go to work and all those things without pain.  Lots of time to think, thanks to the excess energy I have on steroids.  Pulling all nighters are easy to do.  The energy is there but man is it hard on the mind.  I did catch up on Facebook creeping.  Now come on y’all, you know you all do it.  But in real life you rarely have time.  You scroll and stop on the highlights, like a status, and occasionally comment, but who has time to creep!  Well when you’re up all night, you have time.  I reminisced old pictures!   That’s right, I creeped on my own stuff.  Stuff I forgot about but still hold close to my heart. Memories I had tucked away.  I began to let my memories resurface and found much pleasure in reliving them.  Not the pain I was afraid I would find.  That’s the good thing about memories.  They are always there when you need them.  Bringing us comfort, sometimes like a big hug sometimes like a balm or salve.  So as the snow came down I decided to man up and grab my shovel.  Yard stick says 15 inches.  I dive in and surprisingly it moves swiftly.  Danny would’ve loved it, and yes he would’ve shoveled with shorts on.  I managed to get halfway out my driveway and here comes a random person with a snow plow on their truck.  He started plowing me out.  Then here comes Randy Forren on the skid steer scooping up snow, and then here comes Christopher Martin with his two little girls dressed like snow bunnies to help him.  I got plowed out, car cleaned off and had time to spare.   In my house laundry was calling my name.  I worked on that for a couple hours and couldn’t get warm so I gave up, snuggled under a blanket and fell asleep.  For about ½ hour.  I thought how good my neighbors were to me!  What a blessing they were to me!

Mark 12: 30-31 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is this, Love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no commandment greater that these.

My neighbors were doing their Christ like duty today.  And as darkness came, the roads cleared, I decided to venture out. So I headed out to visit Tina and Clarence.  Now anyone that knows where they live thinks I am nuts!  Up on top of the mountain but Tyler had cleared it off.  Old Blue went right up, but only about halfway.  Then I found myself zooming backwards down the hill praying all the time, “God get me off this mountain!”  A snow bank caught me, Thank God for that!  I managed to back all the way down and parked.  Then I decided to walk up.  Now this is a big mountain, but up I went.  My coat wouldn’t zip up, but I thought,  it won’t take long.  Halfway up and I fell flat on my butt.  I felt it jolt all the way to my head!  Slid right back down the hill, then I got back up and started again.  Once again I find myself on the ground, knees this time!  At this point I am thinking just go back down and go home.  But I moved closer to the ditch where I could dig my feet in and started the climb again.  A little more determined.  The wind is cold, it’s dark, but somewhere in the night I can hear Jesus saying you can make it, One foot in front of the other.  Up in the distance I can see the porch light and almost feel the warmth coming from the house.  And inside I know the aroma will be awesome.  That is the way heaven will be.  As I struggle up this mountain of life I can almost see the lights of home.  I feel the warmth of his love.  I see the smile on his face each time I get up after falling.  I can even smell the aroma of Heaven.  And O how sweet it is!  The things He has in store for me are phenomenal. I don’t want to miss out on even one thing.  But I have become comfortable in my own mess.  I haven’t fixed anything, I have adapted, it seems to be working so I let it.  I stay in my comfort zone, my rut, if you will and I don’t really life it, but I am afraid of change.  God is doing all He can to fix that and it all seems to be involving that danged old blue car.  Every time I get in it I wonder what I am going to be up against.  It is very unpredictable, yes that’s the word.  And to me that is interpreted as being scary.  Predictable is safe.  But a friend told me today it’s time to get unpredictable in my life.  I am thinking he is right.  After all how do I know what God has in store for me if I don’t get out there and be a little off the wall?  God is doing his part now it’s my turn.  I have to give back.  Pull that unpredictable card out and play it.  No matter what the outcome! Gods got my back!  The years take us far away from our child like faith, God is great, and God is good!  That’s where I need to go back to again.  All I have to do is say those words and I know He is still listening.  Our prayers don’t have to be long, eloquent, educated…God knows our hearts!  He knows the words in our hearts.  Sometimes all we can say is “God Help me!”  “God forgive me”  “God I messed up!  Fix me!”  The thing is, God hears it all!  We just have to speak it!  Even if it’s from our heart!  God is love…That’s predictable.  We need to take that love and do the unpredictable with it. That is what will win those broken souls to Christ.  When someone shows up to plow you out of the 2 ft of snow, just because; that’s unpredictable.  Or when someone sends you flowers just because…just because you are you!  Or maybe it’s a text to just see if you are still among the living.  Or are you having a good day?  Or, Hey, I am praying for you today!  Or maybe it’s a swift kick in the pants because you messed up.  As long as you do it with love it’s ok.  Now I know you all are thinking, yeah that was really predictable of her, another note!  But the best is yet to come!  Just watch out!  If my unpredictability and Gods will are lined up together?  It’s hard to tell what can happen! 

I did make it to the top of the hill.  Frozen nose and frozen toes!  And when I went in I wasn’t disappointed.  The aroma of bacon and French toast met my little frozen nose!  And the warmth of the home far exceeded my expectations. Not just warmth from the heat but warmth in a friends smile and touch and words that warm the heart.  And that is just like it will be in Heaven only greater.  I did snag a ride to the bottom of the hill from Clarence on the tractor, perfect ending to a perfect SNOW DAY!

Revelation 12:11

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony….

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