Crazy Sunday

The snow wasn't supposed to start until afternoon and then it would only be an inch or two, those TV weather people said.  Fred was ushering at church and left early in the morning.  The girls and I planned to go at our regular time, but for some reason we were running a little late.  I'm rarely late!  So I was rushing.  The last thing I did before going out the door was to put in my one contact lens.  I have only one good eye--the one that has a lens implant.  The other needs help.

We backed out of the driveway and I saw that my neighbor had parked his car in the middle of the street and was blocking the whole road.  Frustrated, I had to turn around and then go the other way, still rushing.  I got out on the main road and couldn't figure out why I couldn't see!  My vision was so blurry! Then I realized my contact was not on my eye.  I cannot drive with one eye, so we headed back home.  The girls were disappointed and I was even more frustrated. But I reminded them (and myself) that we just needed to go with the flow.  Things happen for a reason.  Inside the house I searched with a flashlight to try to find my contact lens.  Finally, I saw something shiny on the carpet and reached out to pick up my lens.  Only it wasn't my lens.  It was a piece of glass!  I remembered an ornament had broken yesterday while we were decorating the tree.  So now I sliced up my thumb.  What was going on today?  But good thing it was my thumb and not baby Jordan walking on the broken glass with her bare feet.  If I hadn't lost my lens, I might not have found that glass today.

Fred called from church and said it was snowing heavily.  Not a flake was in sight at our house. I was so glad we stayed home.   My car is not a vehicle you want to be driving on bad roads.  Fred said he was coming home to change clothes and then he had to go back out to plow the parking lot at church.  About the same time, the snow began falling here.  Fred called me several times on the way home and said traffic was very bad.  He called the last time when he was only about a mile away.  I went downstairs to watch for him.  He didn't come, and I started getting worried.  A half hour passed.  His cell phone was going right to voice mail.  Forty-five minutes passed.  No Fred.  I hadn't heard any sirens.  He was close enough that I I think I would have heard something if there had been an accident, right?  I considered putting on boots and walking out to look for him.  But the snow kept falling faster.  Finally, he pulled into the driveway.  He said cars were all over the road and couldn't make it up the hill.  They were all stacked up at the bottom and he couldn't go around.  That would have been us in my little car--stuck--if we'd gone to church this morning.

I heated up Tommy's Soup that I put in the freezer last summer after our bountiful harvest.  It's tradition that we eat it at the first snowfall.  So we all warmed ourselves, bodies and souls, with the hot soup.  All was well in the world.  Then the best news--the evening service would be cancelled, so we would all be home together the rest of the day!  Fred got out his trains to arrange around the Christmas tree.  A fire blazed in the woodstove as the snow fell outside the window. Liana worked on her knitting.  Arielle and I did school work.  We all enjoyed chili for dinner.  It's beginning to look a lot like winter!  The returning seasons, the familiar routines, the traditions we find comfort in--I am grateful for all these little things.  And the big things: we are safe in the storm; we have another Christmas to celebrate; we have peace in our home.  When our plans go awry and anxious thoughts consume us, we're reminded to "cast all our cares on him, for he cares for us."   I'm like a high-strung child, always worrying about something. But I've had high-strung children of my own.  They need to be reassured that their parents are in control and everything will be okay.  My assurance comes from my Father in heaven.  His word is full of his promises.