A modern-day Pied Piper used to ride through my old neighborhood. Instead of a hypnotic melody played on a flute, he made his music with chimes mounted on a customized ice-box on wheels. With a flick of his thumb, he released a sound into the air that would rouse the kids, including myself, and cause us to run and find him. Who was this guy, and why did we run to him? Well, he was the local ice cream man, and his freezer box was full of ice cream bars, popsicles, dream pops, and ready-made rainbow snow cones. The snow cones were a favorite of mine; they were as hard as an iceberg from being in the freezer for a long time. Each cone had not one but three flavors – cherry, blueberry, and lemon. Eating it required a bit of caution; a tooth could be chipped. But never mind - they were so tasty! A day biting into a snow cone and getting a “brain freeze” was a good day.
As I got older the ice cream man held less sway on me, and eventually none at all. I would hear the bells and not even flinch. Running through the streets to buy a tooth chipping, brain-freezing, rock-hard snow cone seemed childish. Besides, running through the streets to get to the ice cream man was dangerous – one could get hit by a car. That’s just how grown-ups viewed that kind of stuff, and I was on my way to being a grown-up. I figured the day that I became a grown-up would be a good day.
Just yesterday, I awoke with the sunrise and noticed that it seemed lighter outside than it had been the previous couple of days. I pulled the window shade back to “check out” the sky and to my utter shock, I saw snow. Not a dusting of snow, but two inches of snow - on everything! Every branch, stem, and bud of every plant in the yard and woods was piled high with snow. It was April 28, and there was snow everywhere. I wanted to be grumpy about it, because that’s what grown-ups do about April snow, but I just couldn’t. I wanted to be crabby that winter, (the guest who stayed too long), had come back, because that’s what grown-ups do when it’s cold in April; but I couldn’t. I wanted to lodge a complaint and give all my reasons why it just wasn’t right, because grown-ups have a lot of reasons to complain about April weather, but all I could do was smile. The scene outside my window reminded me of a snow cone.
All of my adult reasons why I shouldn’t like an April snowfall didn’t matter; it was amazingly beautiful. It didn’t matter that the April temperature was cold enough for the snow to last (for a little while anyway); the view was so vibrant, I could almost taste it. It was like biting into a snow cone, but it was much more than that. As I walked with one of my kids to the school bus, I was reminded that what I was seeing was yet another display of God’s greatness and power. A passage from God’s word came to mind as I wondered why my recent inclination to complain about the weather was suppressed and supplanted with joy. These words from the Book of Job (37:6-13) left me wondering no more.
“He (God) directs the snow to fall on the earth and tells the rain to pour down. Everyone stops working at such a time to recognize His power. The wild animals hide in the rocks or their dens. The stormy wind comes from its chamber, and the driving winds bring the cold. God’s breath sends the ice, freezing wide expanses of water. He loads the clouds with moisture, and they flash with His lightning. The clouds turn around and around under his direction. They do whatever He commands throughout the earth. He causes things to happen on earth, either as a punishment or as a sign of His unfailing love.”
In His wisdom, God sends the weather; and for His purposes, He controls it. Being grumpy, crabby, and complaining about the weather is actually being grumpy, crabby, and complaining about what God has chosen to give and do. They are ignorant reactions to what He has deemed right to accomplish and provide - reactions that are more childish than grown-up. God’s Spirit reminded me that the grown-up thing to do is to enjoy the snow cone He provides, and that no matter where and when it shows up, it is a good day. Biting into that truth gave me a bit of a brain freeze. It might give you one too.
Grace to you.
Dave Paukner
I happen to have been in Necedah, WI last very cold and damp weekend. It was our third annual spring girlfriend craft weekend. All five of us are about the same age and each of us have were anxious to get away from the challenges at home. Before I left I had sent another friend a card that read "Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of what you do with it". I fight every day not to look at the worlds ugliness and the older I get the harder it becomes to fight not to get bitter and angry. This week a friend encouraged me not to let the deceiver rob me of God's joy. God's word directed me to Psalm 27:4 and every moment this last week when sadness grabbed my heart I repeated Oh Lord let me gaze upon your beauty. And I was strengthened by the Job 37 passage remembering God's in control and I am thankful he calls me friend. Pam
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