Winter's Last Gasp

The snowdrops are out, the daffodils and forsythia, too. The maple trees have a pretty healthy crop of pollen floating on the wind. So WHY is there an inch of snow piling up on the lawn and patio furniture? Weren't we wearing shorts just yesterday?

Winter's last gasp...

I know it is too soon to start my garden, or plant annuals. Here in the mid-Atlantic region it is safer to wait until the middle of May! But the injustice of snow on my daffodils really annoyed me this morning. So other than the brief annoyance at having to scrape off my car's windows after church, what was it that bugged me so?

Very simply, it was unexpected change. Not just change in the weather since half the time the weathercasters blow it anyway. Change in what I think is going to happen, should happen, or was promised to happen.

My reaction was, on a much more trivial note, much like the two men on the road to Emmaus on the first Easter morning. Meeting Jesus on the road, He asked them as they were walking along what they were talking about. In disbelief that anyone could be unaware of the recent events in Jerusalem, they told Him what they had expected would happen.

"...we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel." (Luke 14: 21)

In essence, they were saying, "we had other plans for Jesus. He let us down."

It's easy for me to see where they were missing God's plan. At 2000+ years later, I have a distinct vantage point. Somehow, I haven't managed to keep that perspective when I look at my own life, or the situations in which I find my friends or family struggling to see God's Hand. I don't have wise words to offer, or a perspective that is not tainted by my own self-interests.

I think back to recent events in my hometown, where we were held hostage by our fears of sniper bullets. That incident passed. Then the government decreed that the "threat level" was "high" and that we needed duct tape and plastic but didn't exactly explain how to use them. Now I watch the evening news and see bombs and missiles, trained battalions and renegade freedom fighters. I don't have answers for these events, either. In fact, I don't have answers 99.9% of the time. I can only acknowlege that God has promised to be with me in every situation, every moment of the day.