There’s still time to get my book, Glimmers of Hope, in time for Christmas. Order it through the Shop with PayPal, or email me to use Venmo or Zelle.
Here’s a favorite post from the archives. Hope you enjoy.
I'd heard it might be a possibility but didn't think much about it. Sure—I’ll believe it when I see it, I thought.
And then I saw it. Falling snow. In the South. In December.
Snow in our area in any month is big news, but this early in the season, when it's not even officially winter yet, well, it was the biggest news of all.
Unexpected beauty for sure.
My husband was working at home that day, and we decided to grab a quick lunch at our favorite pizza place. When we left our house, there was a light dusting of snow on the ground. As we sat in the booth at the restaurant, the flakes got fatter and fell faster. By the time we left, the snow/icy mix was starting to stick to the road.
I love to watch snow fall--when it actually does fall--but a nagging thought grew in my mind: our daughter had to drive home in it. She’s a good driver, but back then, she had had little experience in snow and ice. I was relieved to hear that her school released students early.
While I waited for her to get home, I walked around our yard and took photos of the beauty before me.
The leaves that I wrote about on a foggy Sunday morning a few weeks before were still on the trees. Here they are in the snow.
I found other leaves too.
Touches of red.
A fresh green fern looks out of season covered in snow.
Dry creek bed wet with snow.
As I gathered dozens of photos, waiting for my daughter, I thought back to a cold February afternoon many years ago. She was a preschooler then, and I was a single mom. It was the first snowfall at our new place. I only had one roll of film—remember film?—and it was black and white, but I thought it might make for interesting photos.
So, I covered her in layers and topped her off with an Old Navy striped fleece hat, black coat with white leopard collar and cuffs, and multi-colored mittens. Out the door we went with our two labs. The dogs walked cautiously in the snow at first and then started running around, and so did she.
It was about 10 degrees. I couldn’t wait to get back inside but still wanted her to have fun. We gathered a little pile of snow and dubbed it a snowman, or rather, a snowdwarf.
In the photo below, you can’t really even see it, but it’s not the focus of the picture anyway.
It’s one of my favorite photos of all time. When I look at it, I remember two things: 1) She was a delight and a gift from God to me during my days as a single mother; and 2) a few days later, I went to the CS Lewis conference where I got to know a most interesting man, whose name was Mart Martin…
On that snowy afternoon years later, by the time she got home safely, I was cold and wet from romping in the snow. I hadn’t built a snowman, but I’d had lots of fun taking pictures of the unexpected beauty around me.
It’s not too late to order my book, Glimmers of Hope: Meditations of a Life with Jesus and receive it before Christmas. You can order through the Shop using PayPal or email me if you’d like to use venmo or zelle.
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