This day did not go as planned!
Currently, I am in "the mountains" about 80 miles from home. A good friend had invited me to go to a resort with her for a couple of days. Of course, the prospect of a respite from the "holiday hullaballoo" sounded divine. So, I eagerly agreed to go. The weather forecast had called for a little snow overnight last night. "No worries! It'll be fun!" Going shopping around town with a few snowflakes to "make the season bright".
We awoke this morning to about 3 inches on the ground, and it has not stopped all day! After breakfast, we went for a walk and enjoyed letting the snow absolutely ruin our hair and make-up. "Snow hair, don't care!" But, oh....what gorgeous scenery and sound! The walk around the resort grounds was nothing short of spectacular! We spent the rest of the day doing mostly nothing. It has been gloriously, decadently relaxing. We are supposed to get more snow here overnight, which will bring the total to about a foot, I am told. This is the most snow they've received here since "the blizzard of 1993". I HOPE we get home tomorrow afternoon.... I HAVE BIG PLANS FOR TOMORROW NIGHT!!!
If you "aren't from around here", then you may not know we almost NEVER get significant snow in December. And, in all my years I can never remember getting this much in December! Those from the north GA area remember the blizzard of '93. (It was in March.) There's nothing like wintry weather in the South to put one's plans on another trajectory.
Sort of reminds me of Mary and Joseph and the first Christmas...
Honestly, in her wildest dreams, I doubt Mary ever thought the night of Jesus' birth would go as it did. Right?
I remember when my first son was born. The ride home from the hospital is particularly vivid.
If my mother had not been waiting at my home for us to arrive, I think I would have jumped out of our moving car. I was that terrified and intimidated. (Those who know me think I'm exaggerating here. I assure you that I am not.)
Now.
What if I had been in Mary's shoes (er....sandals)?
***Her first pregnancy (like mine was).
***The enormity of giving birth to God's Son (no pressure though, right?)
***A sudden, undesired trip, far from every female she knows.
***Donkeys as doulas, manger for crib, brilliant stars for lighting ...
The incongruity of it all is simply astounding!
Who, but God, would have or could have orchestrated a more "un-human" scene?
Certainly not how a human would have done it!
Why on earth do we become amazed when it becomes so plain that our ways are not His ways? (Isaiah 55:8-9)
It's laughable how we just move through our lives expecting Him to conform to our prayers and to our plans.
Yet, today....all was calm; all was bright. So beautiful!
The writer of "Silent Night"1 believed that, on the night of Jesus' birth, it was the same.
"All is calm. All is bright."
I'm admittedly a little "freaked" about getting home tomorrow (if we do) in all this "weather" and/or if I get to make my engagement for tomorrow night. Through the day today I've fretted about that a bit. But, you know? Each time I started to do that I had to rein myself in and say "All is calm. All is bright."
Where Jesus reigns, in those human hearts can be found His calm and His peace, no matter the upheaval we encounter, in the Advent season or at any time of year.
As the snow continues to fall tonight, I plan to "sleep in heavenly peace". No matter your current challenges, your unplanned circumstances, I pray you will too.
Source:
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Night
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