Snowy Saturday (11/29/2025)

This morning, I awoke to a snowy Saturday, just the day I needed between the craziness of Thanksgiving week and the beginning of Advent. As I bundled up in my ugly but warm brown coat and shuffled out to my porch with a cup of fresh coffee, the first thing I recognized was the stillness that comes with the snow, it is so quiet, almost as if the tiny flakes are buffers that absorb the noise of the world. I brought in my day with the LORD and thanked Him for the wonder of snow. And while I scientifically understand how snow comes to be, I couldn’t help asking Him where He came up with the idea and why.

The LORD is used to me asking questions daily. Questions with words like “why” and “how.” Sometimes He answers by suddenly flooding my mind with a thought that wasn’t there a moment before. Often there is no answer, and I attribute whatever I’m asking about to the large reserve I call the mystery of God. Oh, yeah, I ask that question, too. “Will I ever understand it?” To that question I usually receive a parent’s hushing “sh.”

This morning, as He is prone to do, He used my questions to open my mind and heart to Him. As I was pressing for answers, He reminded me that He sent His Word, a full expression of His loving being in sandals to us. And I realized He was reminding me of His beloved Son. And as I sat in awe, watching the silent snowflakes flutter to the ground, I realized He was reminding me once again to open myself, my home, my world to Him.

Tomorrow, we begin Advent, a time of preparation, a time to get things in order and to order things with our LORD taking our highest priority. It is a time to make room for the LORD in our homes, our lives, our minds, and most especially our hearts. It is a time to remember the lengths the LORD went to thousands of years ago for love of us all. I nod to the LORD, understanding the “why” of Christmas and in awe of the “how” of Christmas. And I pray to the LORD to send the Spirit to knead the very fiber of my being, to tenderize me fully so that I am completely receptive to His wondrous love and hopes for me and for all of us.

After a very long conversation and meditation, I retreated to the warmth of my home. But before I did, I thanked Him for the day, for the snowflakes, and for the wonder of life.

As we continue our journeys of faith, buoyed by hope, and fueled by love, let us be full of awe and open to the LORD’s mysterious ways especially during this coming advent that begins tomorrow. Let us open ourselves to the LORD’s wonders, to the LORD’s mysteries, to the LORD’s creative and transformative love. Let us vow to make this advent our best ever, to open ourselves to the LORD’s power and presence at work moment to moment in our lives and world. Most especially, let us seek to use this time to awaken our eyes to His light, our ears to His Word, and our hearts to His presence. Let us invite Him in. And let us learn to cherish the wonder.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.