Be Still. . .

I remember when the kids were little and in public school and there was prediction of snow. I'd get up and watch the news at 6:30 while doing my floor exercises. If the schools were closed, I'd make banana pancake batter and put it in the refrigerator and I'd get a black piece of construction paper and put in on a metal cookie tray and put that in the freezer. I would crawl back into bed and wait for our internal alarm clocks to wake us up. Oh, the joy to sleep until your body says it's time to wake up! We would make pancakes, pray, eat and then, the best part, get 4 magnifying glasses and huddle around the kitchen door with the construction paper and cookie sheet. We would swing open the door and let the cookie sheet catch as many snowflakes as possible in 10 seconds. Quickly, we'd pull the cookie sheet inside and look at the snowflake crystals up close, under the magnifying glass. We had to be quick because the snowflakes melt in about 3 seconds, even on the frozen paper. Sometimes we would try to draw what only God could create. Those beautiful crystals of all different shapes. My middle child would say that when she died and went to heaven she would ask God, "Are all the snowflakes really different? And, by the way, how many hairs do I have on my head?" And that, my friends, is the real beauty of snow days. The time in this busy life of ours to pause and ponder such great mysteries that God has put all around us. "Be still, and know that I am God. . . " Psalm 46:10