Winter in Michigan

 

It’s winter in Michigan, albeit about a month late.  “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” was only a dream then, but I’ve still got my Christmas tree up and now playing that carol seems appropriate.  (I leave my tree up to celebrate His birth, until Easter, when we celebrate His re-birth.)  The snow falling is beautiful and playing the carols again is just great.

Other things, however, are not so great.

The first real snow came after a month of above freezing temperatures, so when the flakes hit the unseasonably warm ground, the first flakes melted, until the inches falling rapidly began to add up.  And up.  Meanwhile, the temperature went down.  And down.  Shoveling yesterday morning showed me my age, and I tackled the driveway with the very heavy snow on the bottom in three stages, with rest breaks in between.  Even at that, when I came to the last bit, the driveway between the sidewalk and the street, I called it quits.  It had the added snow and ice from the plow which had gone down my street.  If I were to tackle that, I’d probably need at least another 6 rest breaks.  So, I gave up.  It will melt, although perhaps not this month.  At worst, if another wave of snow arrives, I’ll be homebound, like the people I visit each week.  Maybe somebody will visit me!  But I did go shopping just two days ago, and I have plenty of food for at least a month, although I might have to start checking the expiration dates on some of those old canned goods.

Driving to church this morning, I drove some of the less-traveled main roads, or perhaps I should say I slid down them.  But at least I stayed on the roads, unlike many others, as the tracks off into the snow indicated.  The main roads had two tire tracks in the snow, and sometimes showed the bare pavement, but traffic was slowed.  And my car’s technology was in full swing.  The first was the lane guards, which sense when the car goes out of its lane, either over the right white line, or the left yellow line.  Unfortunately, when the early drivers drove over the snow, they couldn’t see the lines, and stayed approximately where they should be --- but my car’s technology kept warning me that by staying in the two tire tracks I was often going over either of the lane lines.  Later, after I’d driven a while in the single digit temperatures, the “Low Tire Pressure” indicator came on.  On my newly leased vehicle, it indicated the tire pressure in each of the 4 tires, and I had to respond “OK” to the message each time it appeared.  Oh well, at least my car electronics doesn’t have Alexa (or whatever other dumb name) TELLING me each time it warned me.  That would make me nuttier than I already am.

I can’t imagine how driverless vehicles --- soon to be forced on us by the government which knows everything --- would handle the lane protection technology.  Would it respond by steering the car out of the two rutted lanes and into the packed snow, and sending the car into a spin, or the ditch?  Ah, the wonders of technology that await us.

When I arrived at church this morning, the parking lot was almost empty.  I wondered if the mass had been cancelled, but people continued wandering into church up to a half hour after the mass had started.  The roads again, but then I saw all the bundled-up kids and realized the cold and snow could cause more problems than the driving ones.  Families seem to have forgotten how long it takes to get the kids ready for the extreme cold.  But at least the kids were still laughing at events, as only kids can.  They brighten any gloomy day, and remind us how very blessed we are, regardless of the weather.

NOW I will feel comfortable saying to people: “Season’s Greetings.” It is the winter season in Michigan.

Merry Christmas!  Now it looks like a Michigan Christmas.

It's All My Fault

 

As I opened the chapel door tonight, a cold gust of wind blew in and sent papers flying across the room.  Everyone looked up at me.  I apologized and went around picking up all the papers.  As I was going to sit down, I paused by my friend Catherine and said: “This weather is all my fault.  It was warm all last week and I just sweated, so last night I set out a short sleeve shirt for today.  And then as I left the house for church this morning, it started snowing!  I’m so sorry I caused this cold weather.” 

“So, this afternoon, I am back to this,” I told her, noting the old sweatshirt I wore.  Catherine just smiled.  Later, as she was leaving the chapel, she stopped by me and softly pinched my sweatshirt as she said: “Now I want you to leave this sweatshirt on.  Promise me you won’t take it off again until it hits at least 87 degrees.” 

I promised.

What is Your Focus?

 

In the early morning I awoke and thought about my past.  I remembered all the stock trades I had made, and the time I had spent analyzing stocks.  Overall, I made money.  As I lay there, I couldn’t recall what happened to it.  So much time spent; so little worth-remembering results.

I had a dream about a woman who was at a support group meeting.  She was explaining why she had to have an abortion.  Everyone there understood.  And then, at the end of her touching story, she said: “And then I had another.”  And she was given a card with a number to call.  The number ended in “PARDON”.  She was deeply sorry for that first sin that she felt compelled to do, but she kept on doing it.

Repeat sins are so easy; that is why we repeat them.  We don’t think to repent of them.  They hurt God, however, just the same.  And no one says they are sorry.  Sins are a such a casual focus of our lives we don’t think to repent, but like my stock market focus, if we really thought about them, we probably wouldn’t see the major benefit of doing them.  They were done more out of habit then need or desire. 

I was focused on money; the woman was focused on casual sex.  Many/most people focus on things they want to do, without ever thinking much about why.  Often it is to become recognized by others; sometimes it is to please our senses.  We often think we are doing just what everyone else is doing.  But if we only focus on doing what everyone else is doing, we are not realizing that we are unique beings.  We look in the mirror and see someone different; it is obvious.  But if we are unique, different, why?  Do we ask that?  The only one who could answer that question is the one who created us, because He created us for a reason, a unique reason. 

It’s kind of like, if I were a creator, and I created a beautiful gold cup for placing on the altar.  Certainly, you could take that cup and play in the sand.  You could point out that many people are playing in the sand with cups.  But what do you think I, the creator of that unique cup, would think of your playing? 

We so easily find some focus in life and continue doing it.  We may look back at some point, as I did on my stock trades, and wonder why I so valued doing that with my life.  Or we may look back and see we were in some habitual sin we just continued --- because we could.  But we so rarely consider why we were created; what was the purpose the creator intended for us unique beings.  I think if we did, we would see more clearly the sins we commit and how we are failing our creator, and what He probably thinks.  And we might see, if we spoke to Him, why He created us, uniquely, now.

And what we should focus on, which would please Him.  And we might remember all the parables Jesus told of people who disappointed Him, and what happened to them, from the vineyard lessees to the man who wasted talents.  We were made for a reason, a unique purpose.  It should be our focus.  As a head start on figuring out that focus, we should remember what Jesus said WAS the primary purpose for lives in general:  to love God and to love neighbor ----- not self or what we feel good doing.  He exampled love to the nth degree, and He chose to die on a cross for love of God and neighbor. 

What is your focus?