The Snow Pile

It started to snow around dinner time.
Snow is to be expected in the second month of the year.
However, when the weather teases you with warm days, the snow is not always as welcome.
I was surprised that I felt that way about the impending snow because I love winter.

It was just that my mother’s heart was praying.
Everyone in my family was going to be away for various reasons.
Some of the travel was about two hours away.
Another required an airplane flight.

All the more reason to pray.
I prayed for travel mercies, safety, and protection as they drove in their cars.
My daughter, who is expecting our first grandchild was home with her husband.
However, she and I had a shopping day planned for a few more maternity things for spring.

The snow came on schedule.
Everyone was safely where they needed to be.
Now it was time to put the fire on in the fireplace and have a cup of tea.
The snow looked so pretty as I watched the lights shine on each flake as they fell to the ground.

I woke up to a literal winter wonderland.
Three to six inches were expected and fell through the night.
The snow outlined every tree branch.
The beauty was breathtaking.

I was up and dressed well before my husband.
I decided to go out and shovel the walkways.
If the snow is light enough, I actually do not mind shoveling.
However, if the snow is heavy, I will not attempt to shovel and hurt my back.

This snow was movable.
The driveway was only covered sporadically.
The grass, trees, and stone wall were laden with snow.
The streets had been plowed and I noticed the snow plow had plowed our driveway in.

That particular mound of snow I would leave for my husband.
However the rest was not hard to move at all.
I love the cold air.
I love the quiet after a snowfall.

I heard the scrape of another shovel somewhere in our neighborhood.
Other than that occasional sound, it was so peaceful.
Clean snow, without any footprints, covered our front lawn.
Puffy, cotton balls of snow were on the hydrangea bushes.

I realized that I was simply moving snow from one place to another.
I was pushing a pile of snow from over here and putting it over there.
I noticed that as I pushed the snow into a pile near our back walkway, it was falling.
What I thought I was piling nicely was really falling down the other side.

The walkway I had just finished was getting snow on it again.
I remedied that situation quickly.
There just did not seem to be enough places to put the snow without it falling somewhere else.
I saw usefulness and futility in shoveling.

I thought about how shoveling has its application in life.
Usefulness and futility.
Putting something from here and moving it over there.
Making piles that will take longer to melt.

It is the stereotypical, elephant in the room.
It is the thing that no one wants to talk about.
It is the problem that just gets swept under the rug.
It is something that is out of sight and out of mind.

It may work for a while.
It may satisfy that burning need to control.
It may have all the appearances of a problem solved.
It is only a temporary solution.

As you are sweeping and shoveling the situation out of the way, it remains.
It is falling down on the walkway of your life in another spot.
It is seemingly out of the way.
However, it is rearing its ugly head over there on ground that you thought was clear.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5,6)

The walkway that I thought was straight, was really covered with snow that had fallen.
Snow that I had piled up because I wanted to move it out of the way.
Snow that was not a problem when it was a little pile.
Snow that had become a problem because the designated place could not contain it.

We do the same things with our problems.
We give it the Scarlett O’Hara approach: I will just think about it tomorrow.
In the meantime, we sweep them out of the way.
Out of sight, out of mind; or at least we think so.

After a while, the pile of problems we swept away is now taking over the room.
We have to walk around it.
We have to move the furniture to accommodate the growing pile in the center of the room.
We have only moved our problem from over here to over there.

We have accomplished nothing in the long term.
We have not solved the problem.
We just moved it out of the way for a while.
We never truly dealt with it.

Those piles of snow at the end of the driveway are always the last to melt.
They stay quite large until the sun shines on them or the rain falls upon them.
We moved the snow out of the way, but in our strength, we cannot get rid of it completely.
In our own strength, we are unable to remove it completely.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

When we confess our sins, Jesus shovels them away completely.
He does not shovel them from over here only to move our sins over there.
Jesus removes our sins completely.
Jesus never puts them in a pile only to show up later in another spot.

Our walkway is clean when Jesus removes the sins that we confessed.
Out paths are straight because all our confessed sin is gone.
The Light of the World has shined His light on us.
The Living Water has rained down on us.

We are clean.
No more elephant in the room.
No more pile of sin that has only been temporarily removed.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
(Psalm 103:12)

Completely gone.
Thank you, Lord Jesus.