Go ahead, Mother Nature, make a liar out of me.
I recently boasted in this column about the superiority of Southern snowfalls. My exact words were: “Snowfalls here are perfect—beautiful, fun and gone before they get grungy.”
Our January mini-blizzard was definitely beautiful…for a little while. And fun…for a little while. But the “gone” part? Well, that didn’t go so well. A week after the snow fell, there were still grungy piles everywhere.
Have mercy, I felt like I was back in Indiana, where dirt-encrusted heaps of snow are a normal part of the winter landscape.
But please, not here in South Carolina. I’ve never seen snow take so doggone long to exit the stage here. What a ham.
I heard both kids and adults say they were tired of holing up at home. Almost everyone, it seems, was ready to get back to work, school, golf, walking, fishing, shopping, driving—all the stuff we like to brag about doing in January to our northern friends.
All that dirty leftover snow was seriously messing with our Southern feng shui.
Seems we’re about as tolerant here with snow that sticks around too long as we are with unsuccessful football coaches who stick around too long. That is to say, not very.
It’s understandable, of course. When things are fun or beautiful, we naturally want them to stay that way. But they rarely do, doggone it.
On the bright side, if things didn’t fall apart, the unemployment rate would be even higher than it is. Think of all the folks who’d be out of work—car mechanics, physical therapists, police officers, plastic surgeons, and undertakers, just to name a few.
I’ve been told there’s a scientific name for how things tend to degenerate over time—the Second Law of Thermodynamics—but it doesn’t take a physics degree to understand it. If you’ve tried to keep a house clean, a car running or a body in shape, you get it.
Even the beautiful snow turns dingy and dirty.
If we’re not careful, it can all cause us to list toward cynicism, or even capsize completely into full-blown anxiety. In this day and age, it’s hard not to dread the boogeyman possibly lurking around every next corner.
To focus upon and fully embrace what is still beautiful and right, and to dare to believe the best is yet to come, is to swim against a mighty current.
But all who believe what God has said in His word can do it.
We can believe that God is who He says He is—the “God of all hope” (Romans 15:13). We can believe that all things are possible with God (Matthew 19:26) and that He will work ALL things together for good in the lives of those who put their trust in Him (Romans 8:28).
In fact, those who have entered into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ have been given a boatload of fabulous promises to carry us through this life and get us to the next with joy.
Even when things seem dark, there is still a great light shining. There is still much good in the here and now…and better ahead for those who trust in Christ.
We’re destined for a place where there is no more pain, no more loss, no more darkness…and, I’m pretty sure, no more grungy snow.
“But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.”—Proverbs 4:18
“But just as it is written, ‘Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.’”—1 Corinthians 2:9