Frostfall

Sometimes it snows in Minnesota even when there are no clouds. And though I have experienced similar splendor before, this morning's display while doing chores was the most magical yet. My camera could not capture the scenes image; but hopefully your imaginations will be able to with the aid of my descriptions.

I did this morning what I always do during chores. I stopped to admire the scenery while the cows ate their breakfast. This morning’s display of the “cloudless snow” was so strong, that at first I thought they were just apparitions in my still-groggy eyes. I noticed what looked like miniature snowflakes lit by the sun’s rays as they peaked through the trees, and over the neighbor’s house. Then I looked all around me. I was surrounded by sparkling embers of crystal, whose widths were no wider than the strands from a spider’s web. The first light from the sun illuminated the winter air, turning them into what people of ancient times might have described as fairies dancing downward to earth. And though they were most apparent in the light, they were visible everywhere to a focused eye. They seemed
to make less than no sound at all as they fell.

What I saw really is not snow at all. At first I thought I was seeing frost drifting down from the tops of the trees.But the breeze was barely blowing. My best hypothesis about what I saw, is that they are water particles in the air. And because the air up here is so clear and cold, the water in the air freezes and falls without being troubled by first becoming a cloud. This must be a Minnesota winter’s version of the hazy humidity I have sometimes seen during the summers in Kansas. Surely there must be a technical name for what I saw; but I do not know it. So I will call it Frostfall.

Viva La Vida Al Máximo

I want you to imagine that you've already lived your entire life.
As you look back on the many years you've spent on this earth, you see that you've wasted much of your time, and disregarded many of the blessings which you were given. Without making an effort, you allowed many of the opportunities which you had to help others and to accomplish great things to simply expire, leaving you only with the unsatisfiable contemplation of what could have been.

Now I want you to continue imagining that by some miracle you were given a second chance, and were sent back in time to this very moment, to relive the years of your life in a more productive and meaningful way. Like Scrooge waking from his visions on Christmas day, there is now an inextinguishable eagerness in your heart to live every second in a way that is more pleasing to God, and more beneficial for every man and woman upon whom the light of your influence has a chance to shine.

Now quit imaging, and begin living this way for today and for as long as you live. Never again say that you wish you could go back five or ten years into the past to do things differently. Instead, thank God that you still have yet to live every moment of your life from this day on.



”Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord…”
-Colossians 3:22

“Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
“I find no pleasure in them”—
before the sun and the light
and the moon and the stars grow dark,
and the clouds return after the rain;
when the keepers of the house tremble,
and the strong men stoop,
when the grinders cease because they are few,
and those looking through the windows grow dim;
when the doors to the street are closed
and the sound of grinding fades;
when people rise up at the sound of birds,
but all their songs grow faint;
when people are afraid of heights
and of dangers in the streets;
when the almond tree blossoms
and the grasshopper drags itself along
and desire no longer is stirred.
Then people go to their eternal home
and mourners go about the streets.
Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
and the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
and the wheel broken at the well,
and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”
-Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

*The first section of Ecclesiastes 12 is full of figurative language describing the process of getting old and losing things such as hearing and sight. So I wanted to include this passage as a reminder to serve God now.

Meeting Monday

This morning my alarm clock went off at 4:30am. Slowly my eyes and mind were able to muster enough alertness for me to attempt my Bible reading and memorization. At 5:00am I took the plunge out of my warm bed and proceeded with my workday routine of getting dressed, making breakfast, and preparing a lunch. Before I left for work at 5:45am I had a little free time and almost considered updating my status on facebook to express how tired I was after a weekend of camping; and how dearly I wished I could have slept some more. But my mind was still too numb to artfully express the thought; and my disposition was still so longing for the wrong side of the bed which I had awoken on, that I was unable to construct any sort of positive conclusion.

So with my cell phone lighting the ground before my feet ― I stepped outside to meet the 28° windchilled pre-dawn twilight.

As usual I arrived at work a little early. So I just sat in my truck and waited for the arrival of my coworkers and the keys which unlock the door to the employee time-card.

The one-hour-and-ten-minute-slow clock on my truck soon read "4:54", and yet none of my coworkers had arrived. It was a Monday morning though, so I didn't think too much of their tardiness. So I waited some more. And some more. And some more still.

I waited until 6:30am and besides the arrival and departure of a truck driver, no one else ever showed up. For some reason never in any way communicated to me, this was a no-work day. So I returned home with the first glimpse of the eastern sunlight shining through my truck's rear window. Once I got home and had climbed back into my warm bed I discovered something awful...
I was now fully awake.

Now warm and with a due smile on my face, I can tell of these circumstances.  I smile because it is funny; and because I am glad that I was able to learn a lesson from all of this. Despite my worrying and my dreading of the coming work day; my work day never came to be. Many worries in life are this way. We can spend hours fussing about any great number of things which will never happen. We should instead trust in God, and let come what may.


Time for a nap. :)