AVOIDING THE COUCH: My Blanky, the Snow and Sam's Wisdom

My Blanky

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Recently a kindred spirit emailed me the following: "...On top of what you already have going on, plus two babies, i think I'd have an emotional breakdown and check myself into the hospital so i could escape it all!!" My Friend shall remain nameless lest she find the need to use her thoughts as a means of escape from her own troubles... one day. I hope you're laughing right now... but not too hard... Truth be told, a light bulb flickered when I read that... "Hmmm".

I am not handling life well at the moment. Things seem to be falling apart at the seems, and let's face it, I'm about as much of a "go-getter" as Eeyore (depressed, melancholic, pessimistic, stuffed donkey from Winnie the Pooh).

I've lost a lot of loved ones... mourned their absence... but I've never felt the utter void I have now that Dad is gone. To make matters worse, most of the people who are closest to me are feeling the same hurt and void...

I'm behind on everything from bills to schooling... did I mention the full hysterectomy I have scheduled in 14 days? I do want to check out of the world for a while... I have already checked out in every way other than the physical.

But then there's my blanky. I dubbed it this because I pretty much take it everywhere with me (or on me...whatever the case may be). I've had this little friend of mine for at least 15 yrs. It's a size 1X slip. I wear it under things, over things...both. Anyone who has seen me anywhere out in public, has seen this thing on me in some way shape or form. I get at least one flattering compliment on it every time I wear it. I've been a million different sizes since purchasing it, and it always looks the same.... it's so nice to me.... and forgiving. It seems that every time I think "I have NOTHING to wear!" the Lord will smile and hand me my blanky. Even when I do have a couple of bucks to buy something new, I end up wearing my blanky. I was smiling the other day thinking of how my Father in Heaven tells me not to worry about the things of this world...what I'm going to wear... and how He gave me a blanky.

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Most of the country is covered in snow at the moment... we've seen our share of it here in the Burgh, yet it's never quite as beautiful here as it is in places where the sun isn't behind clouds 300 days per yr (that's an actual statistic, not an exageration...ho-hum). However, the other night I was out on my porch looking at the snow... it looked so beautiful... like a Rudolf Christmas special.... Zillions of sparling gems glistening... not quite clair de lune (it too was behind the clouds), but the light from my porch was a nice fill in. It was one of those beautiful moments where your senses are overloaded with God's creation... the magnificent detail... His glory shown in ALL creation.

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise

Feeling bewildered yet again today, I was sitting at the dining room table when Sam came over "out of the blue" as he always does, and says "I love the snow that God created mom. Don't you?" 99% of Sam's questions are rhetorical... he went on, "I think God is giving us all of this snow to let you know that He has washed Pappy white as snow... I think He keeps making it snow so that you know that everything is new and clean..." At that point he saw "The Look" on me and bowed his head in Sam fasion... smiling, in Sam Fashion. He knows when he's said something that Mommy thinks is profound... his humble little self gets all embarrassed.

Now I realize that God has not dumped snow on our city and the rest of the US solely to teach me, through my dear son, that He cares deeply for me. Yet, I know that I know that I know, in His infinite power and wisdom... and love, I was part of this plan. After Sam said this to me, I realized that the first day we had had any sign of "Winter weather a comin'." was when we had that ice storm on the day my Dad died. The first time it snowed was the night of his funeral. The first day it stopped, was yesterday.

Our Yard the day after Dad's funeral