Happy New Year! This week we finally got a taste of winter snow—which left Henry grumbling about “this is why we left New England!” as he cleaned off the car to go to work.
I, on the other hand, found myself mesmerized by the snow. My friend and I had canceled our weekly hike, leaving me with the gift of being able to stay home, warm and dry, and work all day. Like a young child, I found myself drawn to the windows to watch the flakes fall, hour after hour. The silent beauty captivated me. The layers of landscape, increasingly obscured by the accumulation of tiny bits of white, drew me in like a magnet. I was perfectly content to just sit and watch it through the windows—which was a great spiritual exercise in slowing down and living in the moment, even as it put my day’s work in jeopardy.
When did you last truly take time to pay attention to the first snowfall of the season? When did you last let the wonder of a child guide your actions, or slow you down to truly experience something precious, and as fleeting as snow in the desert?
This is still the Christmas season, even though our culture is barreling on into 2015. I invite you to take the Christ child with you into the new year. Let him remind you to take time to wonder, to savor, to live in the moment. While you do this, remember also to give thanks for the gift of this new year, and all the blessed moments that will come with it.
