A Voice in the Darkness

I love this tree! I walk past it every weekday morning as I enter school. During the winter months it's often been dark as I arrive. Dark and quiet. I (usually) get to school before the students do and the short walk from the parking lot to the side door is quiet. And then I reach this tree - right outside the school door. It looks completely empty. But then I hear a burst of song from the birds nestled among the branches. Sometimes its a lone voice and other times a chorus of birds. But every morning they sing their praise for a new day. I often try to catch a glimpse of these feathered friends, but I never do. They are tucked away, safe from the winter winds, in their apartment-like tree. But I know they're there, praising God in the darkness of the early winter morning. Their song brings a message of hope - daylight will come; everything is all right - God is in control of this day. What a gift to begin my day. I smile as I open the school door, ready to greet my second graders. May I be a voice in the darkness of this world, sharing the hope we have through Christ.

Splashes of Color

Enough already! About this time of year the grey of winter gets old. The almost constant cloud cover presses down on our corner of Michigan while piles of white snow rise up like mountains at the edges of parking lots. I admit, the blizzard from a couple weeks ago was beautiful, and the sight of freshly fallen snow resting atop tree branches can be breathtaking. And every once in a while we receive the gift of blue skies and a sunny winter day.

But the various shades of grey that constantly smother surround me can be depressing. It reminds me of the old Narnia story by C.S. Lewis (The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe) where it’s always winter and never Christmas, only in this case it’s always winter and never spring.

God created color to liven up our world and right now I need to see some of that color. It’s a reminder that spring is coming. If the dismal grey of winter reminds us of sin, the glorious colors of springtime can remind us of Christ’s resurrection and the hope we have of eternal life with Him.

So here’s a little bit of color – to remind us of the hope and promise – of spring.

Drained

How quickly a mood can change from positive to negative. What began as a promising Saturday morning turned into an afternoon of frustration and downright crabbiness because of one little bathroom drain.

I awoke this morning to beautiful blue skies, ready to clean the house, catch up on schoolwork, and enjoy an afternoon walk with my dog. Things were going along smoothly for a while: I worked on a slide show/movie for our class’s chapel presentation and started cleaning the house. I vacuumed/dusted the living room, bedroom, and T.V. room.

Then I reached the bathroom. I remembered that the sink drain has been draining slowly for a while, most likely clogged up with hair, and decided to quickly clean the drain before doing the rest of the bathroom. All I have to do is unhook the drain stopper, pull out the hair, and reattach the stopper. It will just take a couple minutes. And that’s when things began to change. I got the stopper out; no problem. Cleaned the stopper and cleared out the hair from the drain; again, easy job. And then I looked down the drain. And saw a big clump of hair (I think) way at the bottom. I couldn’t reach it, even with a piece of wire, so I decided to remove the drain trap underneath to clean it out. However, it was so tight I couldn’t get it off. I couldn’t even get it off with a pipe wrench, although after several tries I noticed the top edge starting to crack, so I finally decided to stop (after hitting it a few times with the side of the wrench and letting out a couple good yells, just to make myself feel better – No, I don’t have a temper problem). Extremely frustrating! It then took a few tries to get the stupid drain stopper back on correctly, but the water did go down much quicker than before, so maybe it will be all right.

Anyway, my decision to take just a few minutes to fix the bathroom sink drain turned into 45 minutes and a total change of attitude about my day. Anger at myself because I couldn’t do something as simple as take apart a drainpipe and anger at the drain itself for being so tight (and clogged in the first place) made me feel useless and unmotivated to do anything else. So my kitchen floor is still un-mopped, next week’s lesson plans are still untouched, we never got out for a walk (the sky turned cloudy anyway), and I am in a bad mood with no idea how to snap out of it.

I guess the moral might be Slow drains are better than trying to fix them yourself or Stick to the day’s original plans. I don’t know. I just wish I could get back to the good mood I had this morning.

Snow Day!

There are few words that conjure up such delight in the middle of winter as these: Snow Day! The prospect of a "free" day to do whatever you want; a gift from God, if you will (at least that's how I choose to look at it). Because of the forecasted "Blizzard of 2011" on Groundhog Day, I knew last night that I could turn off the alarm and sleep in today. And we definitely got the snow that was predicted - eighteen inches according to the yardstick I propped up in my backyard. It was quite fun watching my dog, Tosca, as she ventured outside this morning to do her business. I don't think she's ever seen this much snow at once; she kept trying to go back in the house until I shoveled a little path down the steps and then she plowed her way through the backyard. She was pretty content to stay inside the rest of the day.

After a leisurely cup of coffee with "Regis and Kelly," it was decision time. How to spend this day? Should I work ahead on schoolwork and lesson plans? Work on my technology class assignment? Spend the day reading a book? Clean the house and catch up on laundry? Pamper myself with a paraffin treatment on my hands and feet? Snowblowing/shoveling the driveway would have to be included sometime.

One of my favorite comics used to be Calvin and Hobbes. There was a great sequence where Calvin (a mischievous little boy) forgot to do his math homework and prayed really hard for a snow day so he could get his homework done. The next morning he awoke to piles of fresh snow and a snow day was declared. But, instead of doing his homework, he spent the day playing in the snow. It wasn't until bedtime that he remembered his unfinished homework, but by then it was too late. He went to school the following day with his math work still undone.

I always think of that comic strip when we have a snow day. Should I be responsible and catch up on all the work I have or should I just enjoy the freedom of the day. Today I decided to do a little of both. Accomplished:

• did several loads of laundry
• finished the book A Secret Gift by Ted Gup and started Watch Over Me by Christa Parrish
• paid a few bills (although they won't be mailed until tomorrow)
• wrote a letter to my Compassion International sponsored child
• printed out my assignment for the technology class and thought about it
• shoveled out the driveway ... this actually took quite a bit of time and three different attempts to totally complete it - did I mention we have a LOT of snow
• checked out Facebook and played a few rounds of "Word Drop"
• shoveled off 3/4 of the back deck
• talked to my sister and parents on the phone
• made chicken enchiladas
• posted a blog
• paraffin wax treatment on hands and feet (actually I haven't done this yet; saving it for tonight)

O.K., now that I look at my list again, I really did no schoolwork (although I did catch up on a few school-related emails). Thankfully, my lesson plans are already set for tomorrow, but I didn't grade the stack of papers I brought home. And I didn't clean the house or sort through all the papers lying around. So, maybe I'm a little more like Calvin than I want to admit. Oh well, it was a great day!

Maybe we'll get one more tomorrow ... then I can work on school stuff... and clean the house ...