A tender mercy

It's been about a month and a half since I wrote a "real" blog post, but this one is going to be very similar to my November posts.

I can't count the number of times in my life when the weather man promised a blanket of snow for the next day. The next morning I would bounce out of bed and shoot for the window. But my excitement was crushed more often than not when the view before me was brown and dead rather than white and sparkling.

I've learned to not put too much faith in the weather man. Including this week, when everyone was talking about the storm that was supposed to hit Utah late Monday night.

My 2013 can be summed up in two words: BE PATIENT. It's almost second nature now to not expect immediate answers to my prayers, semi-immediate results from my efforts, because my life just doesn't work out that way, especially not this year. I didn't expect Mother Nature to be any different.

But I couldn't quite squash this somewhat pathetic plea: "If you really loved me, you would just this once give me the thing I want when I want it." A winter wonderland when I woke up the next day.

This morning I was afraid to get out of bed. I was debating whether I should sleep another nine minutes when I heard one of my favorite sounds: a snow plow. Like the olden days, I bounced out of bed and shot to the window. In front of me wasn't dead brownness or even a measly dusting of snow: there were several inches of snow clinging to tree branches and resting on top of cars. And the snow was still falling. And it hasn't stopped all day.

My co-workers sigh in sadness or exasperation when they glance out their windows, but every time I see that swirling snow it's almost as if someone is gently reminding me, "You see? Some prayers I will answer quickly."