Snow what if you were snowbound

When I write for the Middleton Times Tribune, I like to connect whatever season it is, or whatever current event the community is experiencing, with whatever MOM does.

Take my last two articles, for example. On the eve of America’s most-watched sporting event, I wrote about “Souper Bowl for Caring” and “football theology.” Then two weeks later, on or about Valentine’s Day, I shared how “Middleton Outreach plays Cupid” (matching caregivers with care receivers, volunteers with service opportunities).

After this weekend’s snowfall cancelled just about everything, even church—a first in my lifetime—I reflect on “missing church” and “doing nothing”! And in doing nothing, I find myself somehow in communion—alone with you and with our God.

What an oxymoron—communion alone! But, believe, me, I had this strange bonding experience with every one of you homeowners, church-goers, and do-gooders in South Central Wisconsin. With most of you, I got to sleep in on a Sunday, wake up slowly, prepare a leisurely breakfast, listen to a news report, read a good book, and gaze out the window. I called friends and family who were all doing the same.

Unless your kids were going bonkers inside all day long, or you got stuck in some snow drift, I trust you, too, had a much-needed sabbath from your labors. As for me, rather than use it as a day to catch up on my “to do” lists, I did practically nothing. Afterwards, for all my uselessness and total lack of productivity, I felt not one ounce of guilt. Rather, I felt refreshed, like a great weight was lifted off my shoulders.

“Doing nothing” is so out of character for me. At MOM and at church—that’s where I always work and worry the most. That’s where I often fall into the trap of justifying my existence by how much I do. I worry about what will happen if I am not there. IF I do take a day off, to experience grace, it is because I fool myself into thinking I have somehow earned it.

There’s another oxymoron—earning grace. What folly! Woe is me.

For this “24/7” multi-tasker and human doing, the sabbath—God’s perfect antidote for the human tendency to work and worry—was being practically and gently forced on me by this snow day.

Keeping sabbath connects us with unearned, undeserved grace—the truth that nothing we could do can make God love us any more than God already does. Yet when I am working hard, using my gifts, doing good—that’s when I fall into the self-deception of believing that I have somehow earned God’s love or more of The Blessing.

Only in stopping out, for hours at a time, even a full day off—behold, the world goes on without our interference! We see that we are very much loved quite apart from what we do. No one is indispensable. All of us are loved just for who we are. By grace, we earn nothing, but receive everything.

This realization dawned on me, awakening my soul, as I simply let my mind drift aimlessly like so many snow flakes outside. There I sat in my easy chair, looking up from my book, looking out the window, letting my mind follow all the wind-blown white stuff.

Soon my mind drifted to the beauty of Creation, to what God does every day in making all things white and beautiful in their time. I am quiet now, but I remember answers to the cries of my heart from weeks prior. I notice more clearly how all good gifts, like the snow, are from heaven above—and not confined to buildings with steeples or building with lots of resources.

To be sure, God’s people need a place to gather together and administer their ministry programs. Likewise, Middleton Outreach Ministry needs a resource-full place to extend the compassion of Christ to anyone in need. (More on MOM’s Place in a future article.).

With sabbath interrupting my frenetic work life—yes, even my worship life—I am more receptive to mid-course corrections, adjusting my sensors and sails to pick up God’s new wind. When God breathes new life into a situation, I can relax, and breathe out my burdens onto the Great Physician. In so doing, I am simply being—letting go and letting God. When we stop doing, we can more readily see what God is already doing.

As I reflect on regularly setting apart one day a week for rest, receptivity and refocusing, I am rededicating myself to appropriating this gift of grace. I pray the same for you, for all who serve so joyfully at Middleton Outreach Ministry, and for all who missed church.

May you find in the Sabbath replenishment for your heart, mind, soul, and strength. As some other wit has pointed out, seven full days makes one weak Let’s hope that next time it doesn’t take a snowstorm to get our attention and make the connection.

© 2005 Middleton Outreach Ministry

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