Snow

Cape Sable Island is experiencing a blizzard right now. It has been snowing since yesterday and there is no end in sight. If the weather predictions are accurate, we will have snow for the next couple of days. But sitting here in my living room all nice and snug and warm it's easy to enjoy it.

I have had a love/hate relationship with snow all my life. When I was little my Mom would bundle us up in our warm winter jackets, sweaters, snow pants, wool socks and boots along with hats, scarves and mittens and we would be ushered outside to play in the snow. It was fun building snow forts and snow men and making snow angels. It wasn't so fun getting hit with snow balls but that was part of winter.

 I can remember eagerly waiting for the radio announcer to say we had a snow day- a day off from school because the school had to be canceled because of snow. We never stayed inside, we couldn't wait to get outside to play. When we finally did come indoors, Mom usually had warm cookies and hot chocolate waiting for us no matter how old we got.

When I was in grade eight an incident involving snow happened that changed my life. I was walking to school when suddenly I was pushed to the ground and had my face 'washed' in the snow by this big guy that I barely knew. My long hair was hanging with 'snowballs'. I had snow in my jacket, down my shirt and my jeans were hanging on me they were so wet. I couldn't go to school that way so I walked back home to get changed. I was pretty upset and was crying as I told my Dad what had happened. He asked me who it had done it and when I told him his answer to me was that boys do those kinds of things to the girls that they like. I guess Dad was right because when I grew up I married that boy.

While my husband and I were dating, before we were married, we would often take long walks on cold winter evenings. I especially love the cold, still nights when there is not a breath of wind and you can hear the snow crunching under your boots. Your cheeks get red and everything seems so fresh and beautiful with the moonlight making the snow look like it has diamonds all over it. It's a wonderful feeling being together with the one you love on nights like that, even if your attempts to hip check him into the nearest snow bank never, ever worked but always ended up with you in the bank instead.

When our second son, Matthew was born, we had a terrible New Brunswick winter. We had a lot of snow that year and even had the electricity go out on one occasion for two days. We had an oil furnace and no alternate source of heat but Mom and Dad did and they only lived four houses away. Our car was buried under several feet of snow, so we bundled up the boys and started out for Nanna and Grampy's house. I had Matthew in a 'Snuggly' on my front under my winter jacket and Brad had Benjamin in a knapsack type carrier on his back. We both wore snowshoes to make the trek. The roads hadn't been snowplowed and only snowmobiles were moving at all, so we had to walk over the drifts of snow with the power lines just a couple of feet above our heads. It was a walk that usually took us a couple of minutes at the most but that day took us much longer. We stayed with Mom and Dad for a few days until we could go back to our house. We enjoyed the wood stove fire and the boys enjoyed sleeping over at Nanna and Grampy's house.

I still love the snow if I don't have to drive in it. I hate driving in the snow. But we're Canadians and as such we are use to snow. And besides what good does complaining about it do? Nothing at all. While we were living in Tennessee we met several people who wondered if Canada had snow all year long or if we had dog sled teams to get us from place to place in the winter time. Those things are laughable but I can't blame those people if all they see from Canadian advertisers is how great Canadian winters are for skiing, snowmobiling, hiking, sightseeing, skating and all the other wonderful things we can do in Canada in the winter.

I like the four seasons that we have. I have lived or visited in other places where there isn't much difference between one season or the next. I prefer having a distinct spring, summer, fall and winter. Winter may not be your favourite season, it isn't mine, but it won't last forever. We have the promise of spring and it will be here before you know it. So enjoy the snow and know that even it has a purpose that is laid out by God. He gives us snow to water and replenish the earth. Everything, even snow, has a purpose. God bless.

Isaiah 55:10-11
¹⁰ As the rain and the snow
   come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
   without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
   so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
   It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
   and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.