Peaceful Snowfall

CBN.com The most lovely winter snow has fallen in layers of light, wet and ice across the state. Just when I was longing for my old New England, we received this New Year's gift. And, suddenly, I have something more in common with my neighbors, as we joyfully accept a free day off of work and a fleeting struggle against nature.

I've seen the unusual and the unexpected unite strangers, and it's phenomenal. People whose eyes never meet during their day-to-day neighboring find themselves reaching out in rare friendship to help one another. We saw this in the fall of 2001, as flags appeared in apartment windows, on tailgates and flapping proudly in rows at every car dealership in America.

On one wet, blustery day walking across my college campus, I peered out from under my grand, red golf umbrella to catch the eye of passersby, gazing at me from under their own coverings as well. Some attempted to hide from the wind and rain under textbooks, some under wretched and mangled miniature umbrellas, but all were smiling at the insanity of fighting against the storm as we sped to our classes or the parking lot. I remember appreciating our human bond as ethereal - complete strangers sharing the human condition in humorous receipt.

So it is again today with young brothers and sisters chasing each other around the yard, flinging packed snowballs in complete abandon. They laugh, scream, fall and express all of our feelings about this snow, this day, this opportunity.

Journalists and newscasters starve for images to help us etch these memories into our minds. The television carries nothing but storm reports, interviews with men and women in line at the airport, people scraping their ice-crusted windows, a man bent determinedly over his full grocery cart, forcing it through a parking lot obstacle course. Flakes of snow even remind some of the ash that fell day after day in the gaping hole of the world's capital, New York City.

We work against these storms of life, looking for miracles to sustain us. We need these blankets of snow and strength to cover our yards and our national heartache. We long for this human commonness to grow and heal us. Pray that today brings signs of newness - coming miracles and surprises in layers of peace, joy and love.

See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you (Isaiah 42:9).