1/19/2024

Snow days drive the planner in me crazy.   They force me to get out the eraser and accept a blank calendar page.  To let go of wanting to map out and arrange everything ahead of time.   To be still.   

And however hard it is to swallow at first, this usually ends up being exactly the medicine I need.

On snow day number 3 out of the 5 we’ve had in the past two weeks, I opened an email newsletter from Gather & Pray (https://gatherandpray.co) that I would have just reflexively deleted without reading if it came on a regular “work day.”  One of the articles, written for young parents struggling to get work done at home, spoke directly to my feelings about yet another snow day:

“It can be so frustrating, but instead of viewing this time as a hindrance to productivity, what if you embraced it as an invitation to a different kind of productivity – rest and being present.”

A different kind of productivity—one that is less about to-do lists, email inboxes or self-imposed deadlines and more about relationships and about being renewed and strengthened in my inner self.   This is an idea worth pondering.

It made me think of Jesus’ promise of “bearing fruit that will last”, which is part of that beautiful passage in John 15 about the vine and the branches and remaining connected to Him.

My “word to walk by” for 2024 is HERE.  I chose it during the last few days of December, thinking about how I’d like to be more present and more grounded in the here and now, instead of floating off into the atmosphere of my plans, worries, imagined scenarios and conversations, or whatever the mental distraction may be. (Maybe you can relate?)  

But the word "here" also fits quite well with these snowy, cold first weeks of January and with the idea of resting.   I will choose to trust that staying "here" both physically and mentally will bear some kind of lasting fruit.