Ed, my neighbor next door, just had to say, “I told you that you should shovel driveways this winter for pay.” He was all smiles yesterday as he cleared the thirty centimeters of snowfall from his drive with his new snow-blower.

After repeated times of shoveling during the weekend-long snowstorm, I was ready to talk to Ed about the cost of having him keep my sidewalk and driveway clear with his new snow-blower. Pride and cheapness wouldn’t allow me to even think such thoughts for long.

After one big snowfall, it is too early to throw in the snow shovel. However, I did find that this first big snowfall made me think in envy of bears which hibernate through the winter. It seems to me, hibernating is better than going south. When will they come up with a pill that you take in November and you wake up in April thinner and ready make your presence known again?

I told Ed that he doesn’t understand the stress of needing to drive to work when the snow is falling and blowing and piling up in sneering drifts on the highway. He doesn’t need to worry about winter roads. Winter driving to work can make it seem like every storm day you face you are working a double shift, but only getting paid for one. Of course, Ed had no sympathy and accused me of always whining about something, which may have some truth to it.

Jesus understood that many of us have a tendency to worry not only about wintry roads but any number of things. Jesus asked, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” Certainly, our lives are much more than work and our drive to and from work. The recent snowstorm that shut things down reminded me that even work schedules mean nothing to God. We go to work or school and come home, but only when God lets us. When a road is blocked with snow or a highway closed, our plans for going get put on hold.

Bad weather stops us from going where we want, when we want, and puts us on hold until conditions improve. It cramps our style. Sometimes, when we phone a business, we get put on hold. Waiting our turn for the next available service representative can be frustrating. We tend to think that time belongs to us and no one should cut into our time. Every once in a while, God reminds us that time belongs to him and if it’s His time to snow, it may be our time to stay home.

It is a stretch for us to allow God to have a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven. We may see a time of birth as too early or late, but it is God’s time. Likewise, the time of death may not seem right to us; however, it isn’t our time, but God’s. We think that today and tomorrow are ours, but they belong to God. The Bible says it this way, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city’…Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow… Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’”

 

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