Heavy Snow Clears a Path for Me
week. After briefly taking in the beauty that it has created - trees
accented in white, glistening streets, the quietness of it all - I
grumbedly went about compensating for its existence: shoveling our
sidewalk, unburying our car, seeing if I had to move my schedule
around to account for slower travel times.
To compound matters, after slogging the kids to day care, I found the
building closed and dark. The dreary thought of having to schlep all
the way back home, and then negotiate with Amy as to how we would
cover the next ten hours, was thankfully interrupted by the arrival of
one of the workers, who informed me they were in fact open, albeit a
couple hours later than usual. So instead I only had to wait 15
minutes while she got the place open and ready.
Thusly relieved of my potential day care dilemma, I set about dragging
my empty stroller to work. Finally with a moment to breathe, I could
not help but re-take in this winter wonderland. I was particularly
fascinated by the trees, of course barren for several weeks, but now
highlighted brilliantly by a heavy coating of snow. I noted how the
branches fanned out and pointed upward, and imagined them to be a
mirror image of roots below the ground.
It occurred to me then that we are not much different than trees. The
shape of trees is not set at birth; rather, branches and roots grow
towards sustenance. And so should we be: literal and figurative arms
raised to the heavens, literal and figurative roots planted deeply and
firmly, both fanned out to receive as much as possible.
My daydreaming had to end abruptly as I arrived at the doorstep of the
building in which my office is located. Next I have a moment, I'll
have to give thought to whether my own life lines up with what a
healthy tree should look like, whether I am indeed - outwardly as well
as below the surface - reaching out as far and wide to get as much
from God as I can. Until then, I am thankful for the snow; though it
gums up roads and sidewalks, it also cleared a path for me to see more
clearly what our lives are to be about.
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