Why I Needed Snowmageddon

Later today I'll be jogging in shorts and a T-shirt.  It's hard to believe we were sledding a week ago.  As this week life has gotten back to normal for those of us in the Deep South (especially the ATL), I can't help but reflect:  I needed Snowmageddon.

• I played a lot with my boys.  We played in the snow with no regard for time or where we had to be next.  We risked life and limb for a good ride down the hill.  We decided we might have a future in the skeleton at the next Winter Olympics.  There was nowhere I could go and no meetings I had to attend.  
• We stayed up late together every night cheering on Team USA in Sochi.  We learned about new sports together and marveled at the flips, twists, speed and accuracy of the world's best.  We shared something we probably wouldn't have gotten to share in the normal routines of a school week and it's 8 o'clock bedtime.
• We didn't set an alarm for four straight days.  I can't remember the last time that's happened in this house.  We got up when the boys woke us up, which was usually plenty early.  We just lived life as it came.
• I got a lot of work done.  I wrote a huge paper I needed to write for school.  I visioned for our church and planned for future sermons and series.  No meetings and no travel means more time to reflect.
• Our dishwasher ran constantly because we cooked and ate every meal together for four straight days.  There was a lot of laughter at the table and a lot of dirty dishes.  No fast food, no hurried meals.  They became our sacred time to come in from the snow or ice or work.
• We prayed a lot.  At every meal and bedtime we thanked God for a warm, dry house.  We prayed for those that had no home or had lost power.  We prayed for those working to restore power.  We read Bible stories and thanked God for the fun we'd had that day.

Every meal was not a five-star meal.  The house was mostly a mess during the ordeal.  I wore sweatpants every day.  By Friday afternoon, we were ready to get out of the house (and did).  But, Snowmageddon gave my family a Sabbath.  In a hustle and bustle culture, those rarely happen.  They certainly don't happen enough.  This week, baseball season has kicked into high gear.  We have four boys on four different teams in four different levels.  We have at least one practice every night, most of the time two.  We will spend Spring at the ballpark.  Soon, I'll get a new reading list for my classes in May and will be engulfed in reading in the evenings instead of watching Ted Ligety or Body Miller race down a mountain with my boys.  Church life will get crazy again with meetings, strategic planning and special events.  I'll resume ministry-planning lunches and discipleship over coffee instead of chili with my family and hot cocoa after a sledding break.  My wife's alarm has blared this week as she readies the boys off to school once again.  But we had that week.  The snow provided a few days to slow down and do what God had commanded us to do -- slow down.  Stop working.  Rest.  Worship.  What if we all actually did we God told us to do and made Sabbath a normal part of our busy, busy lives.  Just a thought.