Have you ever arrived to the church parking lot and seen just a few of the cars filling the spaces have snow tucked in crevices and corners, hubcaps and bumpers, side mirrors and trunks; and wonder where they came from since your car has hardly any?
One early morning last week when I woke up, I was surprised to see that there was snow outside my window! My husband had said it would be colder that day, but we weren’t expecting snow. I do love to look at snow, so for me it was a very pleasant surprise.
There wasn’t much on our driveway, and what was on my car was pretty light, and easily brushed away. (I use a broom because I am short and it works well.) The snow was so light in fact, that I thought maybe I could’ve just blown it off my car with my breath if I had better lung capacity.
I will admit that I was on my way to my first mammogram that morning (I know, it should have been sooner, but I am totally fine PTL), so my mind was a little distracted by what to expect, and if I would actually come out of that office fully intact, or feeling bruised and broken. (I’d heard some horror stories, okay? It was not nearly as horrifying as I was imagining.)
Anyway, as I was driving, I noticed how clear the roads were in my neighborhood, and I was very thankful. I was glad to not have to worry about sliding around at stops signs and such. Even the highway not far from home was well plowed.
But getting about 10 minutes away from my house, it seemed like no one got the memo that it was going to snow. The roads were horrible, traffic was backed up, and there were actually cars that had slid off the side of the road. The snow there was wet and heavy, the wind was blowing terribly, visibility was limited, and people were driving everywhere because no one could see lines for the lanes.
This made me think of our spiritual lives, and how different the conditions can be. Maybe where I’m living, things aren’t so bad. Sure, there’s some snow to deal with, and the air is cold, but the roads are clear. And while the sun may not be shining or rainbows gracing the sky at the moment, the weather is also not dumping sludge down on me, either.
But not that far away, things look radically different for someone else. Maybe where they’re coming from the weather has been atrocious. Maybe they feel beat down by the wind, maybe they’re overwhelmed with trying to keep up clearing the road in front of them, and things are just a lot harder.
The point is, I don’t know where someone’s coming from. I can’t always see or know what’s burdening them. I don’t know what it took for them to make it to the church parking lot. Maybe no one in their area got the memo about the coming snow, and they had to drive through a lot of junk. Maybe they keep getting dumped on, and it’s hard to see the lines for the lanes, so they’re kind of all over the place.
I want to make giving grace my default. I want kind thoughts and loving words to be my go-to. There’s enough sludge and snow and rough winds outside the church. Let’s make the area inside the Church (thats inside you and me, believers) a warm, welcoming, grace-filled, Spirit-led place where people know they are loved because there is a God who sees them.
Maybe they just need reminded that God is right there in the struggle, that the atrocious days are not forever, that clear roads can be as close as ten minutes away. Let’s grab brooms, and snow scrapers, and shovels, and help clear the way for others as God gives us opportunity.
Galatians 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who
are of the household of faith.
1 John 3:16-18
(16) Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
(17) But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
[18] My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
John 13:34-35
(34) A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
(35) By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Of Faith & Fortitude 
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