When the Snow Flies

I hate being cold.  Like I.HATE.IT. Like detest in the deepest, darkest sense of the word.  There is only one other thing I can think of that I might dislike as much.

And that's camping.  (Bugs?  Fine.  Sleeping on the ground?  Fine.  But the HOURS of preparation and worse...the HOURS of cleanup...I cannot even.  I have six kids.  I clean for a living.  It is not fun to prepare food for an army and then clean the army up afterwards.  And small ones in outhouses?  You have got to be kidding me.  Indoor plumbing was invented for a reason.  Can I get an Amen?!)

And so I....brilliantly...married a pastor in New England who loves to camp.  God is sooooo funny.  I'm laughing out loud.

We've worked out the camping thing.  On our last family camping adventure I tried a new strategy.  I call it "Thumper's Plan."  If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.  By day two, Randall realized something wasn't right.  Apparently, I do not often go 24 hours without talking.  Imagine that.  It was then that he politely asked me to stay home next time.

Thank you, God.

But winter is another story.  I cannot stay home from winter.  I tried that one year.  Turns out you can atrophy in your recliner and your children start to think there's something wrong with you when you run screaming hysterically away from open doors.  So I have battled on, year after blessed year in the cold north waiting for signs of spring.

When the gray descends and the temperature falls, my spirit plummets, too.  I struggle with seasonal blues and I find myself standing by windows on sunny afternoons letting the rays hit my face and dreaming of flip flops.  I drink obsessive amounts of hot chocolate with Baileys and whipped cream.  And I blast the weather.

A lot.
 
Late this fall, I was convicted that complaining about the weather is still complaining. 
And it's wrong. 

I was disciplining encouraging my kids by reminding them of the Bible verse that tells us we should "do everything without complaining or arguing" and I shuddered as I thought of how many times I have complained about living in the cold.  I have pretended that complaining about New England weather didn't count.

After all, we all know I am RIGHT and my husband is WRONG about this one.  Warm weather trumps snow any day.  :-)

Still, what I SAY with my mouth and the ATTITUDE of my HEART matters.  It influences children and it can change how I approach the day and the interactions I'll have in it.  Curbing my comments about the cold is also a training ground for more important things.  If I refuse to obey God's Word about little things like how I approach weather, how will I be ready to obey bigger things God wants to call me to or use me for?

"Let nothing come out of your mouth except what is helpful for building others up" is not just advice, it's a command. 

And God kinda wants His commands obeyed.  And so...

I'm employing Thumper's Plan once again.  I am asking God to help me refrain from complaining about the cold.  It's going to be hard.  Like reeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaalllllllyyyyyy hard.  Not gonna lie.  If you see me walking around with duct tape over my lips, you'll know why.  Hey, I hear they sell it in all sorts of colors now...I could start a trend...

Come to think of it, where is our duct tape?  It's probably in the box with camping supplies....go figure.

:-)

And looking at this face in the snow...MIGHT...just MIGHT make it bearable.