February Storm

In the wee hours of the morning, thunder rumbled through our area, low and strange sounding thunder, accompanied by sleet and high winds, 50 mph gusts at times. Emery and I woke to hear the strange cacophony of sounds. Wind blowing, limbs snapping, sleet hitting the windows and this strange thunder. The temperature when we went to bed was above freezing, the house was toasty warm so we never bothered with a fire in the stove, but when we woke to a temperature of 15 outside with wind chills dipping to -5, we wasted no time in getting a roaring fire going. There was ice on the window frame in the living room, something we have never seen in all our years of living here, and to think that folks were running around with shorts and tee shirts this past Saturday, enjoying temperatures above 70 ! What a change ! They are forecasting single digit temps for us, the coldest weather in 15 years they are saying. But here I sit in the warmth of the stove, cozy and content. How blessed we are.

My little log cabin incense burner is sitting on the shelf, smoke from the balsam incense rising from its tiny chimney, filling the house with a scent that always takes me back in time, to my childhood. Balsam incense was something we always purchased on our road trips to Maine or Vermont. How I loved the scent then and even more so now as its tied to such sweet memories.

The wind is so strong from the north today, that it caught the screen door and whipped it back as if it was a piece of paper. Quickly I opened the door and latched the screen door but was bitten by the cold, sure that this cold snap feels so much colder than others, maybe the contrast from a warm and sunny weekend has made it feel more extreme.

A layer of ice, an inch thick covers the roads, thicker in some areas. This keeps folks inside and the world around me seems quieter with no cars on the road. I enjoy that extra quiet.

Silence is a good thing from time to time. We need moments with no distractions in order to hear that small still voice that so often wishes to share with us a message of love and kindness.

We need times like this, where we crawl under a blanket on the sofa, snuggled up with a book that makes us a better person for reading it. Pulled away from the hustle and bustle of modern times, soaking in the purity of snowfall, seeing the life lesson in how snow, covers the ugly, transforming even the most broken down things into a scene of beauty....a lesson, a reminder of what Christ does for us in the same way. I love reading the 3rd chapter of Zechariah, it shows the same lesson to us as does the snow... 1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.”
Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.”
5 Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by.
6 The angel of the LORD gave this charge to Joshua: 7 “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in obedience to me and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.

How blessed we are !