Snow Day?

So.....the question is.....will there be a snow day tomorrow? I remember having a big bank of windows in my classroom when I used to teach. Whether it was high school or middle school if snow started falling there would inevitably be at least one student (usually a girl) who would exclaim with great excitement - "SNOW!" We never really out grow that do we. There is something about snow that excites even the grumpiest grump.

I am reading this book "Telling the Truth." It was assigned reading for a class I took in seminary and I picked it up again about a week ago. Honestly, when I read it for class I read it because I had to read it or at least portions of it. I can say that it didn't impress me the first time around. Probably because I knew that there would be some paper to write or discussion to have in precepts. This time around is a completely different experience. I don't know what it is but I have been devouring it this time like a pit bull on a poodle. I won't go into too much detail but the basic premise of the book is that the gospel is tragedy, comedy, and fairytale and to preach the gospel in its entirety you must address all three. If you are wincing at the terms the author uses to describe the gospel, namely tragedy, comedy, and fairytale the best suggestion I have for you is to read the book. I had my doubts at first glance as well and that's probably one of the reasons I didn't enjoy it as much the first time because I might not have given it a fair shake.

So what does this have to do with snow? It just so happens that the little bit I read last night flurried around the theme of snow. (Get it? Flurried....how clever)

Here is what it said:

You wake up on a winter morning and pull up the shade, and what lay there the evening before is no longer there - the sodden grey yard, the dog droppings, the tire tracks in the frozen mud, the broken lawn chair you forgot to take in last fall. All this has disappeared overnight, and what you look out on is not the snow of Narnia but the snow of home, which is no less shimmering and white as it falls. The earth is covered with it, and it is falling still in silence so deep that you can hear its silence. It is snow to be shoveled, to make driving even worse than usual, snow to be joked about and cursed at, but unless the child in you is entirely dead, it is snow, too, that can make the heart beat faster when it catches you by surprise that way, before your defenses are up. It is snow that can awaken memories of things more wonderful than anything you ever knew or dreamed.

I remember being on a winter retreat in high school at a camp on White Pass. I woke up early for some reason on Saturday and walked a short trail that overlooked a lake. That morning has always been imprinted on my mind because it was so quiet and peaceful.....and it was snowing. Big, fat flakes were floating down all around me and since it was so quiet I could hear them as they landed. Hard to explain the feeling but if you've ever experienced something like that you know what I'm talking about. A feeling of being connected to something bigger than just yourself.

The book has caused me to think about a lot of stuff so I am sure you will be hearing more about it. As for tonight, I will leave you with one final thought: Don't eat yellow snow.

(The picture is of our two of our kids on a "snow day" when cabin fever struck with a vengeance. Notice the shirt my daughter is wearing.....oh the irony.)